July 11, 2012

Cedar Valley of Iowa

Alliance Moves to Protect Talent and Value in Regional Economy

TechWorks Campus and The Green@TechWorks Continue to Progress

                                                           Despite PFG Troubles            

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber(GCVAC) and our TechWorks Campus group are dismayed by the recent events surrounding Peregrine Financial Group (PFG) and PFGBest.  The Wasendorf family has been engaged, highly supportive volunteers in both the Alliance & Chamber and TechWorks Campus. The Alliance & Chamber was deeply involved in helping move PFG’s headquarters to the Cedar Valley. The events of the week are tragic personally and to a community that had come to appreciate the economic and civic contributions of PFG and the Wasendorf family.

As events unfold and facts surrounding PFG continue to emerge, we want to assure the stakeholders and investors of the Alliance & Chamber and TechWorks Campus that this group is working to ensure our Cedar Valley economic progress continues unabated, even in light of a high-profile business failure.

• Talent: The talented people of PFG are important to the Cedar Valley. The sectors represented by their strengths are growing in the Cedar Valley, but we must act quickly to retain the talent pool here. We are contacting Cedar Valley businesses where similar skills are valued and needed, and working to match former PFG talent to firms where their talent may be required immediately. These talented people and their families can help ensure the technology-based products and financial services sectors continue to grow, hospitality choices are maintained, and these employees’ generous work in our civic life can continue.
• PFGBEST operations: As bleak as it appears three days into this personal and business tragedy, the Alliance & Chamber will work to keep PFG’s core operations in software, in whole or in part, located in the Cedar Valley. The intellectual property-based operations of PFGBest are a good match to our base. It is to the regional economy’s and Iowa’s benefit to work with firms to continue these operations here. That is our goal. We are working with the Iowa Economic Development Authority for their data and marketing support in this new, highly focused recovery plan.
• Scale: For a number of reasons, this has become a very high-profile event. Let’s keep this in perspective. Economically, PFG’s demise dents the strength of the Cedar Valley regional economy. What this is not is a situation where a firm faces demise a failing economy, such as when Rath Packing failed and left many relatively unskilled people unemployed some 30 years ago. When the firm located here a few years ago, analysts at the University of Northern Iowa helped us determine PFG’s economic impact is approximately $125million per year. The areas that will feel immediate impact include services, retail and non-profits, where reduced purchases purchases, and pledges and contributions made through Peregrine Charities, will be reduced or disappear. This does not count the contribution of time by talented people. These losses are important and will be painful to adjust to. In this organization, we are losing two board members and passionate advocates, and the loss of PFG’s investment is very significant to us. Nevertheless, many of these talented people have exceptional opportunity to move quickly to other, similar positions in the strong Cedar Valley economy. The voids left by the financial contributions will undoubtedly be filled over time by firms and individuals in the region who are strengthened by this talent and benefit from our local vitality as a business location.
• TechWorks Progress Unabated: The original plan for The Green@TechWorks Campus included a restaurant to be owned and operated by PFG’s chair, Russ Wasendorf Sr.  The developer of The Green has secured the hotel operations firm, The Amin Group, to take over the restaurant and catering location(s) on the Campus. While the PFG/Green operation was deeply involved in the planning of the renewable energy system being developed on the campus, PFG was not involved in the financing of any component of the project. The energy generation and education component of the campus is under the ownership of the developer, FDP, and continues without delay.  In summary and to point, the PFG events do not impact the schedule, progress or financing of any component of the TechWorks Campus.
• Russ Wasendorf Sr. served on the board of directors of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber. His position will be filled as we elect a new board in the coming weeks. He also served on the GCVAC fundraising campaign committee.
• Russ Wasendorf Jr. served on the board of directors of TechWorks. We are confident his full attention will be required as the business winds down.

The events surrounding the Wasendorf family and PFG companies are tragic, at a personal level, and to the entire business community. This statement opened with the word, “dismayed.” Aren’t we all? However, in the spirit of Midwesterners, this will be recognized as a setback overcome by very strong commitment to progress, the typical ethic of hard work applied to productive endeavor, and the willingness to take failure in stride as a next step toward greater success of our Cedar Valley economy. In the face of this tragedy, we are pleased to say it is not an economic dilemma, as this area has faced in the past, but an opportunity to strengthen what we’ve started. As always, you are invited to accept the invitation to:

Be Part of Something Greater…The Cedar Valley of Iowa.

Contacts:

Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber and TechWorks Campus: Steven Dust, CEO – call   319-232-1156

The Green@TechWorks – Financial District Properties (FDP): Bryce Henderson, CFO/COO – call 563-324-9898

News Release

June 28, 2012

Cedar Valley of Iowa

Premier Business Class Hotel to Fly Flag Over The Green@TechWorks
Hawkeye Community College ‘Green’ Programs Locate at TechWorks

Today, TechWorks Campus, a division of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber, together with Financial District Properties (FDP) revealed the hotel and management company to crown the six floors of the Tech 2 building.  Simultaneously, they also announced a commitment from Hawkeye Community college to locate green technology classrooms and laboratories on the campus as well. Both announcements represent significant steps in the continued progress of developing The Green@TechWorks project.

View a video of announcement here.

The hotel will cater to the modern business traveler and event attendees with a design that accentuates the campus theme, mixing industrial history with advanced technologies.  Amenities at similar hotel properties include an indoor pool and state-of-the-art fitness and spa facility.   Sophisticated rooms equipped with Internet access, flat-screen TVs and lavish bath amenities are expected at the Waterloo location as well.

The Green project developer, FDP, selected The Amin Group, a leading national hotel management and real estate development company, as the hotel operator because of its success in similar projects and locations including the management of the Radisson on the John Deere Commons in Moline, IL.

Managing Partner Mike Amin of the Amin Group, shared comments at the announcement and was accompanied by three other members of The Amin Group management team. Over the last 25 years Mike has guided the company’s growth and diverse portfolio of properties including hotels, commercial and retail developments, residential projects, lounges and restaurants.  Brands represented include Radisson and Wyndham products, Best Western, Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Homewood Suites, Double Tree Hotels, LaQuinta Inn and Suites,  as well as boutique and independent operations. These properties vary in size, revenues and operational complexity.

Impact

Aaron Buzza, Executive Director Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau, commented on the significance of the hotel announcement, “The new hotel at TechWorks is an incredibly exciting development for downtown Waterloo.  The hotel will add to the supply of hotel rooms in Waterloo, but the hotel flag adds a unique product that isn’t currently available.  With the activities on the TechWorks Campus, we see the impact of this hotel being significant.”

Hawkeye Community College ‘Green’ Programs Locate at TechWorks

Hawkeye Community College also announced their plans to locate classrooms and labs at The Green @ TechWorks to accommodate two new green curriculum offerings–  the Alternative Energy Technologies Training & Education Program and the proposed Sustainable Construction Program.

“Hawkeye Community College is thrilled to be a part of the TechWorks campus project.    The physical space for our two new programs is still in design, but these programs are in perfect alignment with the Green technologies focus of the TechWorks Campus.” commented Linda Allen –President, Hawkeye Community College.  In implementing its vision for The Green project, Financial District Properties has made a commitment to renovate the Tech II building to at least a gold level of LEED certification.  The development team is pleased that Hawkeye Community College recognizes and supports the educational opportunities that will be created by learning and using “green” technologies in a “green” and sustainable environment.

The Green & Overall Project

The Green@TechWorks is part of the larger 43 acre TechWorks campus. In addition to the Tech l and Tech II buildings (formerly John Deere Westfield R & C2) the campus includes  parcels suitable for larger scale manufacturing facilities. TechWorks is the first technology park of its kind in the Iowa to combine world class business amenities within a Brownfield industrial redevelopment project. The campus will also integrate a unique renewable energy generation system that promotes “green” energy technologies.

Other projects already announced as part of the $50 million capital investment at The Green include a John Deere Regional Training Center and a Wasendorf owned fine dining restaurant.  Concurrently, adjacent to the TechWorks Campus, the John Deere Waterloo Tractor & Engine Museum is nearing construction with a projected opening for Spring, 2013.  UNI’s National Ag-Based Lubricants Center established operations in Tech I nearly three years ago.

Construction of The Green @ TechWorks Campus is scheduled to begin this fall with a projected hotel opening in late 2013 – early 2014.

NEXT STEPS

Steve Dust, President & CEO of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, Chamber and TechWorks is pleased with the progress and positioning. “The pieces of the TechWorks Campus are coming together right on schedule.  Our efforts, along with the statewide push to position Iowa as a bio research and technology hub is paying off.  FDP and The Amin Group would not have come here unless they too recognized the Cedar Valley as a region positioned for tremendous economic growth.  Their confidence, and the support of higher education partners like Hawkeye Community College and others, is an endorsement of the ambitious vision of this project.  There are more exciting announcements like this come! ”