CEDAR RAPIDS – Stephanie Filer uses her Facebook page and Twitter profile to let friends know what she’s up to, where she is and how she likes her new job.

In April, she used the social media to sell her house.

“Facebook has been a tremendous resource for me to promote things – everything from promoting causes, raising money or promoting adoptable animals and the humane societies,” said Filer, 27, who recently moved to Des Moines from Cedar Rapids. “I’ve had amazing results from Facebook, and best yet, it’s free.”

Filer became one of a growing number of people who are using social media for more than just connecting with friends. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the like are sporting promotions for garage sales, individual car sales and, in Filer’s case, home sales.

Russ Nading, a Realtor with Iowa Realty in Cedar Rapids and president of the Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors, isn’t worried about the private sector’s use of social media and its effect on the real estate market.

Instead, he said, he’s encouraging more Realtors to get involved and do the same thing.

“I’m not an expert in technology, but in being in contact with the younger people who work here it’s definitely something they’re using,” said Nading, 69. “I really think it will enhance our business, it’s the wave of the future.”

Gary Wolter, 45, uses his Facebook page to promote houses he and wife Melynda are selling as the Wolter Team with Skogman Realty.

“I like to keep it 60/40 personal/business,” Wolter said. “I usually report what’s going on about the market, open houses that we’re doing or having just listed or sold one.”

“I don’t want to turn people off,” he said. He’s “simply using another tool to connect with people and meet their needs if they are in the market for a new home.”

Filer said she was cognizant of her audience when she posted her house on Facebook. At $139,900, the house was in the typical first- or second-time homebuyer price range, she said, “and that age group is predominantly on Facebook.”

“The great thing about Facebook is that I was able to get my house in front of people who might otherwise not have been looking,” Filer said. “I had a lot of people tell me they loved the house or they loved a certain decor but that they weren’t in the market for a house of that price. That validated for me that it was sellable.”

How sellable was the house on Facebook? Apparently, very much so.

“From the time I added my house to Facebook to the time I had an accepted offer was just three weeks,” Filer said. “I had two offers and several others wanting to do a back-up offer.”

The buyer was a friend of Filer’s - who saw the house on Facebook.

Rockwell Collins has teamed with a Chinese partner to supply an integrated surveillance system for a new Chinese-made family of single-aisle aircraft.

The new C919 family of aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (COMAC) will use the integrated surveillance system.

An agreement between Rockwell Collins and China Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute was signed in a ceremony last week in Wuxi, Jiangsu. announced on Thursday, July 15.

The surveillance system combines weather detection, traffic alert and collision avoidance, Mode S surveillance and terrain awareness and warning functions.

“The new relationship we’re creating with LETRI to develop a reliable, state-of the-art surveillance system for the C919 platform demonstrates the importance of the China civil aviation market to Rockwell Collins,” said Kent Statler, executive vice president and COO, Commercial Systems for Rockwell Collins.
About COMAC

One of Cedar Rapids’ loudest bars has mellowed out.

Toocan’s Tiki Bar arrived July 2 at  329 2nd Ave., formerly operated by owner Brian Hughes as Volume.

Brian Hughes, owner

Volume was a little loud for the taste of the downtown night life crowd, Hughes said, but you can’t very well play it quiet when your bar is named “Volume.”

Hughes talked to a lot of customers about what they’d really like to see in a bar, and decided a tiki bar, somewhat like the outdoor patio he’d been developing, fit the bill.

So what’s a tiki bar? It’s a tropical island themed restaurant with Polynesian decor and tropical drinks. Grass skirts are optional.

Women were heavily in favor of the tiki concept, Hughes said. He decided to cater to women with a “skinny menu” of drinks with under 100 calories.

“That’s becoming a big trend,” Hughes said. “Cedar Rapids hasn’t really picked up on that one yet.”

One of the biggest changes is that customers can now talk to each other without straining their vocal chords. The live bands, for the most part, will be gone, and the remaining live performances will be groups with a mellow sound.

“Our crowd was mainly the 21-30 age group,” Hughes said. “Now it’s more like 21-55. We get a lot of 40 to 50-year-olds. It’s not loud and threatening.”

The most popular drink is the Miami Vice – half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri.

Many remember the location fondly as the site of the Dragon Club, a gay night club that opened in 2003 after a landmark downtown restaurant, The Golden Dragon, closed at the site.

Hughes bought the bar from the owners of the Dragon Club in October 2007, giving him only about eight months before the bar was washed out in the flood of 2008.  Volume reopened on August 29, 2009, after about $250,000 in repairs.

Hughes said he doesn’t really regret that he didn’t reopen as a tiki bar, although it so far appears to be generating more enthusiasm than the live band concept of Volume.

The bar has been operating Wednesdays through Saturdays. Beginning Monday, July 19, it will begin opening six days a week, Mondays through Saturdays. ,

CORALVILLE – The City of Coralville is debating about whether to make good on its promise to purchase the Arby’s located on First Avenue or back out of the deal now that the deal might not be as advantageous. 

Coralville has been considering whether to purchase the fast-food franchise located on 801 First Avenue for about two years.

The city’s initial interest comes from its long-term strategy to redevelop that area of town.

“It’s no secret that we have plans for Iowa River Landing that once the area north of 9th street is redeveloped,” said Kelly Hayworth, city administrator for Coralville.  “We’d like to see the area south of 9th street to 7th street developed as well.”

Coralville originally thought purchasing the property from Arby’s for $1.3 million, then leasing it back to the company would help them reach their development objectives; however, that was when the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics was considering building their new outpatients clinic on the south side of 9^th Street.

But Hayworth said UHIC decided to build its 150,000 square foot facility on the north side of 9^th Street which changes the interest level of the city and the refinancing terms Arby’s was working on.

Hayworth said the city of Coralville will decide within the next month whether it will purchase the Arby’s.

A sign in front of Jim’s Foods, 812 Sixth St. SW, Cedar Rapids, advertises the sale of beer with 8 percent alcohol by volume. Retailers have been able to purchase beer with higher alcohol content from wholesalers, rather than the state, following the passage of a law in March by the Iowa Legislature. George C. Ford/SourceMedia Group News

Eastern Iowa supermarkets, grocery and liquor stores have begun carrying beer with 8 percent or higher alcohol content.

A law passed by the Iowa Legislature in March and signed into law by Gov. Chet Culver allows beer wholesalers like 3G Distributing and Fleck Sales in Cedar Rapids to stock beer with alcohol content up to 15 percent. Previously, beer that had more than 5 percent alcohol content was only available through the state Alcoholic Beverages Division.

Larry Welp, owner of Jim’s Foods, 812 Sixth St. SW in Cedar Rapids, said his store has begun carrying several brands of the higher alcohol content beverages.

“We have Hurricane HG, which is available in a 40-ounce bottle,  and Colt 45 Malt, which is available in a 24-ounce can,” Welp said. “There’s also some new items. One is called Four Loko (12 percent alcohol) and the other is called Sparks (6 percent alcohol).

Larry Welp, Jim's Foods

“They’re basically a flavored energy drink with a higher percentage of alcohol.”

Randy Hunt, vice president of sales and marketing for 3G Distributing (formerly Dale Lee Distributing) in Cedar Rapids, said Hy-Vee Drug Stores and Benz Beverage Depot also are carrying the higher alcohol content beer. So is Johncy’s Liquor Store, with locations in North Liberty and Solon.

“It’s a packaged product that makes it more of a carryout item,” Hunt said. “I’m sure there will be some bars that will pick up on it, but typically someone wanting a higher alcohol content will order a glass of wine or get a mixed drink at a bar.”

Hunt said Anheuser-Busch  is distributing a Blueberry Lager, Wild Blue, that has 8 percent alcohol  content. He said additional higher alcohol content beers are headed to the market.

“These are malt beverages like beer, which the state decided to open up to the wholesalers to handle,” Hunt said. “I think people are looking for something with a little more alcohol, but I’m not sure it will increase sales.”

Mike Schulte of Fleck Sales said there’s some high-end barley lines and Belgian triple fermented beers that get into the 10 percent to 15 percent range.

“A very popular style of beer is an India Pale Ale or IPA,” Schulte said. “It’s made with hops that are considerably more bitter, but they’re the style and the flavor. To make it true to that style, you have to have a higher alcohol content than the old standard of 6.2 percent alcohol by volume.

“New Belgium has a brand called Ranger IPA at 6.5 percent alcohol by volume that we couldn’t bring into Iowa. Now, we can bring it into the state and offer it to retailers.”

The same law that allows wholesalers to stock higher alcohol content beers also permits microbreweries to make beer with up to 12 percent alcohol content.

Some brewpubs and microbreweries like Granite City Food & Brewery in northeast Cedar Rapids are limiting customers to two glasses of the higher alcohol content beer.

Hunt said that limit makes a lot of sense to him.

“They don’t want someone overindulging and then going out and hurting themselves or someone else,” he said.

A Minneapolis engineering firm has opened an office at 425 Second St. SE in Cedar Rapids.

BKBM Engineers Inc., a multidiscipline, professional engineering firm, has earned a national reputation for innovative design solutions and proactive project management, with expertise in structural, civil, restoration, and industrial engineering services.

Douglas Siers will supervise BKBM’s Cedar Rapids office and serve as principal in charge for projects in and around the Cedar Rapids area.

From a Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau news release

Cedar Rapids has been selected for a list of the “Best Places for Affordable Homes” by CNN and Money magazine.

The list, along with an article, photo, interactive map, median home price and median family income, was posted Wednesday, July 14, on the CNN/Money magazine Web site.

Cedar Rapids was ranked No. 11 on the CNN/Money magazine list with a median home price of $120,500.  Only cities where there were more than 100 home sales in 2009, and that were experiencing job and population growth, were considered.

Des Moines was ranked No. 10 on the CNN/Money magazine list with a median home price of $100,000. Deerfield Beach, Fla., was ranked No. 1 on the same list.

No more than two places within a state and no more than one place within a county could qualify.

Cedar Rapids consistently ranks as one of the top communities in which to live, work, play and raise a family. Recent accolades Cedar Rapids and the surrounding communities have earned include being among the best places in America to live, educate children, do business, commute and volunteer. 

Cedar Rapids was named one of “America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up” by U.S. News and World Report, called one of the “Best Places for Business and Careers” by Forbes magazine and was ranked #4 on a list of “Next Cities” with a population between 100,000 and 200,000 by Next Generation Consulting.