Small businesses, building groups see Solon as attractive option

City Administrator Cami Rasmussen has long been one of Solon’s biggest advocates, helping support small businesses in a town that has grown substantially over the last decade.

New businesses and housing developments continue to sprout up, including Watts Development Group’s Trail Ridge Estates, which Ms. Rasmussen calls the “largest development in Solon in several years.”

Trail Ridge Estates, located along Highway 382 NE, will offer new homes including single-family, zero-lot and townhomes. Amenities include fishing ponds, a community dog park and nature observation areas.

The subdivision’s first phase will have 69 lots, with 23 of those duplex lots and the remainder single-family home lots. The remaining 151 lots will be built over the next 10 years, said Adam Hahn, director of construction services for Watts Development Group. 

He anticipated it would take three to five years for phase one to be completed. Around 10 homes are to be started this fall, marking Watts’ first major foray into the Solon market.

“It’s been about a year of moving dirt on this subdivision to get going,” Mr. Hahn said. “Solon is a very desirable town when you look at what it [offers] downtown, especially considering its school district. We’ve been high on Solon for quite some time, trying to figure out the only way we can get into that market. It took us some time to find the right place.”

The homes are expected to sell anywhere from $300,000 to $1 million.

“We’re working hard to ensure the residential growth doesn’t mean the small town feel is lost,” Ms. Rasmussen added. 

Small businesses find new home

It wasn’t long ago The Eat Shop, The Brass Fountain and Bluebird Cafe were the most recent new upstarts in Solon.

Now the town is welcoming the next wave of newcomers, including Buff’s Gameday; Salon Rosemary at the location of the former Solon Economist newspaper; Renew Spa where Amy Becker Photography used to be; and several new businesses inside the historic Literary Hotel building, such as Sashy Aesthetic Boutique.

“There’s already a great restaurant presence in Solon,” Ms. Rasmussen said. “The demand is there, as we grow, for the personal services industry in the city right now.”

Sashy, at 130 S. Dubuque St., is primarily a botox clinic run by Ann Leland and Chris Murders. The boutique held a soft open house Oct. 4.

“I was actually part of a Facebook group for 24 years and I was intrigued in getting trained to do neurotoxins and microneedling,” Ms. Leland said.

Sashy, the first business of its kind in Solon, will offer everything you’d expect from a medical spa for medical and nonmedical aesthetics, including botox, fillers and microneedling facials. Additional staff will offer 30-, 60- and 90-minute massages, as well as facials and IV therapy in the future.

Solon isn’t the only growing city in the Corridor, but for Ms. Leland, it was the most desirable location.

“I’m from Solon and the building [the Literary Hotel] just has so much history there for me,” she explained. “I work in the Quad Cities in Muscatine so the location is right on my way…I just wasn’t interested in going to Iowa City, Coralville or North Liberty.”

“It’s convenient for us, but it’s also convenient for a lot of other commuters going in and around that area,” Mr. Murders said.

Remodeled hotel

The Literary Hotel is a restored 1915 St. Mary’s Catholic Auditorium Social and Literary Club just a few minutes walk from Big Grove Brewery and Good Vibes Cafe. Formerly holding catechism and dance classes, musical performances and plays, it reopened this May and offers apartments on the top floor, a boutique hotel on the second and retail spaces on the bottom floor, according to East Central Iowa News. 

However, the building’s remodeling process initially put a strain on the boutique, its owners explained.

“It’s been a project that has been going on for almost three years now,” Mr. Murders said. “The biggest challenge we faced was being able to set up our shop. We were, for lack of better terms, held hostage to them completing and getting occupancy with the larger project. It probably pushed us back six or seven months, but we’re well underway now.”

“Solon is starting to become a popular wedding destination, too,” Mr. Murders said. “I think even during COVID-19, Palmer House still had something like 26 weddings, so you can imagine what it’s going to look like in other years when opening up a hotel, giving people a place to stay. Aesthetic services are a nice complement to that.”

North Market Square Building is also expected to see changes with the remodel of an existing mechanic shop and the inclusion of a new restaurant and brewery.

“There’s a handful of people actively looking at commercial spaces inside the North Market Square Building,” Ms. Rasmussen said. 

She said commercial businesses are open on the first level with apartments on the second floor.

“Solon just has so much to offer,” she added. “We hear frequently how people come here to make their goals a reality.”