SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Foundation Park is a relatively new industrial development near the intersection of I-29 and I-90 in northern Sioux Falls. The site is already home to several massive new facilities, but work is underway to prepare for more.
“There’s a lot of dirt being moved out there right now,” Sioux Falls Development Foundation President & CEO Bob Mundt said.
Construction crews are busy at Foundation Park this summer helping complete the infrastructure needed for potential buyers to come in and develop the roughly 150-175 remaining acres on the south side of this industrial site.
“Readying the site is probably what we do that everybody looks at and says oh you’ve got somebody coming in right, but we really do that so that people have a better understanding of what the site is going to look like as a flat site and we’re putting in infrastructures like water and sewer so that it’s built ready,” Mundt said.
The Sioux Falls Development Foundation manages Foundation Park, right now Mundt says the site is vying for a major new tenant.
“We don’t have it locked in by any means, but we’re in the running for it. We’re working with one of our broker partners on that with what we need to fine tune to be the place they choose,” Mundt said.
Rumors are already flying about which major national company could be looking at coming to Sioux Falls.
“Those rumors are going to be out there, whenever you look at any big project, who are the ones that can do big projects, you’ve probably got a dozen or so companies you can think of that can start a project like that. So again, rumors are always going to be there and everybody thinks they know but nobody really does,” Mundt said.
While he can’t share who the company is at this time, Mundt says securing the deal would be a big win for the Sioux Falls community.
“Anytime you can attract a large scale client like that it’s going to have an impact on jobs an impact on capital investments that’s there, depending on who it is it has draw potential for other companies to come along with it as well,” Mundt said.
As negations with the big potential tenant continue, Mundt says they’re also in talks with dozens of other companies that have started to look at bringing their business to South Dakota during the pandemic.
“I think there’s a lot of call to bring back production from out of the United States back into the U.S. so some of our site selectors are telling us they’re very busy with prospective companies right now,” Mundt said. “People that have factories or companies in places like Japan or something like that are now wanting to source those out of the United States, largely due to all of the shipping and production issues right now.”
