Developer hopes to bring grocery store to Wellington Heights, neighbors react

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - A new grocery store may be coming to the Wellington Heights neighborhood of Cedar Rapids. It’s been almost a year since the Hy-Vee on First Avenue closed, leaving the area a food desert.

The proposed grocery store would be in the heart of Wellington Heights, near the corner of 5th Avenue Southeast and 17th Street Southeast.

TV9 spoke with neighbors Tuesday who said it would be a welcome, much-needed addition.

Carolyn Slater has lived in Wellington Heights for roughly 9 years.

“It just took a part of me when they took Hy-Vee off the First,” Slater said.

For Matthew Fusco, it’s been 6 years.

“Usually I go to Mt. Vernon now, or sometimes I go to Wilson Avenue,” Fusco said.

Joyce Cropp has been here for 40 years.

“When I go, I try to get everything I need in one who,” Cropps said.

All three live within a block of the building. It doesn’t look like much now, but an eastern Iowa developer hopes to turn it into a grocery store.

”I bought the property in 2020, not really knowing what I was going to do with it. I pulled some permits to make it another single-family rental property but when Hy-Vee closed in talking with a few other members in the neighborhood, it was like, this has the potential to be better than just another rental property in the neighborhood,” said Brad Bergeson of BB Properties at a City of Cedar Rapids City Planning Commission Meeting. That meeting was on Thursday, May 1.

During last week’s city council meeting, Bergeson said he wants to change the property zoning from residential to “mixed use”, turning the home into a grocery store.

Bergeson said it would be more than just a convenience store, but wouldn’t sell alcohol or tobacco products.

The neighbors say it’s a need.

“I just don’t want it to be anything where it’s going to be a lot of crime or anything going on. I want it to succeed,” Cropps said.

“They put that store right here? I think it would help a lot of disabled peoples and even the homeless,” Slater said.

“There’s a lot of older people that live around here, but also a lot of lower-income people that would benefit from something nearby where you’re not trying to take an Uber or bus,” Fusco said.

Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.