Pearson closed their campus in Iowa City in December 2022. The campus was the home of NCS (National Computer Systems) since 1970.
It's just a matter of time before they close out the warehouse in Cedar Rapids. There's no reason for it to exist without Iowa City.
I've been to the Iowa City facility after the 2015 remodel. Pearson spent nearly $20 million remodeling the lower building, constructed about 1994. The upper building, from 1970, had been a small warehouse and handled assembly of scoring books, printing, and optical scanning. About 12 years ago, printing was outsourced to RR Donnelly and everything else was moved to Cedar Rapids, about 20 miles away.
What a waste of money on that remodel. Whoever buys that property will just knock it down. It's sprawled out into two buildings connected by a breezeway. Totally inefficient, and I remember the upper building's roof leaked.
Pearson C-suite was psychotic with the remodels under the revolving C-suite door in the 2012 to 2016 time period. They wanted every facility to look the same. This is what they were focused on rather than maintaining or growing the business! They put a bunch of stupid slogans on the walls in vinyl letters. I remember them constantly repainting ceilings and hallways with different branding colors that would be updated yearly.
I hated those remodels. No local touches. Everybody sits in an open room. No room for personalization. No raises. We didn't get the bonuses we could have gotten if the company hadn't been looted by a bunch of Goldman Sachs alumni.