Corridor Releases 2025 Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Report

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation (Corridor) has released the 2025 Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Report summarizing findings from 117 business and industry visits within the four-county Corridor region of Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, and Emmet.

The Corridor’s BRE program goes by the acronym GROWTH, which stands for Gathering, Relationships, Opportunities, Wins, Trends, and Hometown. These GROWTH interviews are vital to identify expansion opportunities, forecast economic investment and job creation, identify businesses at risk of downsizing or closing, provide succession planning resources, provide insight for allocation of resources, generate facts to support marketing initiatives and legislative advocacy, and foster relationships with Corridor businesses. All visit responses are confidential, and each year Corridor staff compiles and presents the data in aggregate form.

The GROWTH program is done in conjunction with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), and an aggregate report is provided to the IEDA on a quarterly basis. Last year the Corridor accounted for 13% of BRE reports across the state.

In 2025, Iowa Lakes Corridor Business Retention & Workforce Partnership Coordinator Joanne Follon performed 117 total BRE visits. Through these visits, expansion plans were identified in 27% of the companies, with estimated expansion projects in the next 3-5 years of over $110 million in capital investment and over 218 new jobs. Many businesses are seeing an increase in total company sales, with 86% reporting stable or increasing sales.

According to the International Economic Development Council, an estimated 80% of a community’s growth in new jobs and capital investment comes from the companies that already exist in a community.

“BRE efforts are key to the success of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation, our communities, and the region as a whole,” said Corridor President & CEO, Curt Strouth. “Through the GROWTH program, we are able to monitor the health of our companies and communities and provide support to these businesses to stay and grow right here.”

Responding companies identified the top regional strengths as local business support, diversity, education, workforce quality, cost of living, and location & amenities. Priorities for business sustainability included housing opportunities, childcare initiatives, workforce upskilling, and talent attraction. There are an estimated 180 unfilled positions in the Corridor region, and 50% of businesses said they were experiencing recruitment problems.

“Business happens through relationships,” shared Follon. “Through our relationships with the region’s businesses, we are able to support them and provide resources and connections to help them grow and have success in the Corridor region.”

To read the entire report for the Corridor Region, please visit lakescorridor.com/2025BRE.

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ABOUT THE IOWA LAKES CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation is the regional economic development agency for Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson and Emmet counties. The Iowa Lakes Corridor’s mission is to foster, encourage, promote, aid or otherwise assist in the economic development growth and development of the four-county region.