The board of directors of Broadlawns Medical Center on Tuesday approved bids totaling $11,135,000 for a new 40,000-square-foot medical office building to be built on the county hospital’s campus at 1801 Hickman Road. Construction of the building, which is part of the second phase of a three-phase renovation and expansion program for Broadlawns, is expected to begin in early spring and be completed by the second quarter of 2011. Phase 2 will also include expansion of the hospital’s surgery department beginning next year. The winning low bids were made by 14 subcontractors, and the total Phase 2 cost will be approximately $1.4 million less than initial estimates for the work, said Jody Jenner, Broadlawns CEO. The building will initially house eight physician offices and will help to address double-digit percentage increases in patients being seen at the hospital’s clinics, Jenner said.

Karl Chevrolet of Ankeny is the nation’s best-selling dealership of GM Certified Used Vehicles, General Motors announced today. This is the fourth consecutive year that the dealership has earned the title. It sold 1,418 vehicles in 2009, best among 3,433 GM certified dealers in the country.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. reported operating income of $28.7 million, or 48 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2009, an increase of 86 percent from the same quarter in 2008. Operating income for the year was a record $101.8 million, or $130 per diluted common share, an increase of 40 percent compared with the prior year. Read more.

EMC Insurance Group Inc. reported fourth quarter operating income of $12.8 million, or 98 cents per share, in 2009, compared with an operating income of $5.56 million, or 42 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2008. Operating income for the year was $33.7 million, or $2.55 per share, compared with $14.2 million, or $1.05 per share a year ago. Read more.

Luis Valdes has been promoted to president of the Principal Financial Group-Latin America and to senior vice president of the Principal Financial Group. The promotion is effective immediately. Valdes has been with the company since 1994, and was managing director of BanRenta Compania de Seguros de Vida, which was acquired by Principal International and became Principal Vida Chile. Read more.