CRST 2016

A letter from Dyan and John Smith:
CRST CENTER
201 FIRST STREET SE
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA 52401
WWW.CRST.COM
SEPTEMBER 2016
AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT OF THE
CORRIDOR BUSINESS JOURNAL
WRITER: JIM OFFNER
PHOTOGRAPHER: RYAN COMPANIES
DESIGNER: BECKY LYONS
MEDIA CONSULTANT: KELLY MEYER
As we celebrate the grand opening of CRST International’s
new headquarters in downtown Cedar Rapids, we reflect back
more than 60 years to CRST’s humble beginnings and our family
founders’ first headquarters—a $125 chicken coop.
It is with great gratitude and tremendous respect that we
dedicate this new, beautiful building to CRST’s founders and
John’s parents, Herald and Miriam Smith, for their extraordinary
vision to grow CRST into one of the nation’s largest trucking
companies and to foster Cedar Rapids’ growth and vitality along
the way.
Having been born and raised in Cedar Rapids, and having
raised our three children here, we are committed to the economic
prosperity of our community and hope our investment in this
new, $37 million building will inspire additional new growth and
development in our downtown.
We believe that a strong, vibrant downtown is important to
those who already live here, but it is also extremely important for
attracting a strong, talented workforce. As we’ve seen in other
areas around the country, younger professionals desire to live
and work in a cosmopolitan downtown—one that is thriving with
great restaurants, entertainment and the arts—which is another
significant passion of ours that we are pleased to continue to
support.
As CRST continues to achieve record growth under the direction
of CRST International President and CEO Dave Rusch and his
leadership team, the grand opening of our headquarters could not
have come at a better time to accommodate our growing team of
employees.
We thank all the employees of CRST—the drivers, mechanics,
office personnel, supervisors and leadership team—whose
integrity, ingenuity and can-do spirit have made CRST International
an industry leader in growth and profitability. Our family is forever
grateful to these dedicated men and women, whom we are proud
to call the best in transportation.
We are also proud to welcome Bankers Trust, our anchor tenant
occupying the top two floors of the building and providing a
street-level full-service branch, as well as tenants RSM and Holmes
Murphy, to their new homes in our new building.
Putting together the financial pieces and partnerships to make
this building a reality involved many business, community and civic
leaders. We extend our heartfelt thanks to officials from the City
of Cedar Rapids and the State of Iowa for their assistance along
the way. And we cannot thank enough OPN Architects and Ryan
Companies for building us this striking statement of a building that
has forever changed the skyline of downtown Cedar Rapids.
We are excited to celebrate another significant milestone for
CRST and our family. We are proud to call Cedar Rapids our home
and the home of the headquarters for CRST International.
Sincerely,
John and Dyan Smith
www.CRST.com 3