AccuJet Iowa has acquired the old Grimes Canning Co. property at 913 Evelyn St. — more recently the home of Livy’s Livery Auction Service and Swan Antics — in an expansion of their commercial and industrial sewer maintenance and repair operations.
“Starting out it will be an expansion,” said Kyle Baxter, president of AccuJet Iowa. “If we can move everything there, then we will.”
AccuJet, situated at 12155 J Ave. north of Perry, was founded in 2006 and currently employs a crew of 18. Baxter said the expansion in the downtown area will probably involve hiring another three to five workers.
The property is located east of Pattee Park and south of the Alliant Energy facility, along the former route of the Interurban Railroad.
Jeff Livingston of Menlo acquired the property in 2019 and converted the old canning factory and seed corn processing plant into an auction house. The cannery opened in 1918 and closed in 1944, when the Fazel brothers — Dwight, Roy and Earl, who occupied part of the property beginning in 1939 — fully converted it to a hybrid seed plant.
Livingston was a longtime worker at Mark Seed, which succeeded the Fazel brothers and was in business from 1985 to 2015.
Livingston is looking for a new location to host his auctions, but Swan Antics will close up shop for good. Alma Blougher Swanson, owner of Swan Antics, moved the store from its longtime rural Ogden location to 1226 Second St. in Perry 2018 and to the Evelyn Street outlet in 2020.
