Category: 2023

Past Chair’s Message

Posted on by leahb

By Kurt Loudenback, President, Grand Prairie Foods, Inc.

2022 has been a year of resiliency and recovery. Our community has emerged stronger and more resilient as we have dealt with some crazy economic challenges over the last 2 years. Despite all of the headwinds we have faced, The Foundation has had another good year of land sales, prospect development and connection between workforce candidates and our members. We are collectively in a good spot to take advantage of continued interest in our state and region while addressing the need for expanding a skilled workforce.

Through various partnerships with both the public and private sectors, the Foundation is positioned to provide valued services to our members, our clients, and our community. Board identified priorities including business retention and expansion, business attraction, and workforce and talent development remain key focus areas. Foundation leaders created a plan centered around these areas three years ago and we have been executing on strategies and programs developed to address these needs.

Partnerships with existing companies looking to grow in the Sioux Falls region have increased dramatically. The Foundation’s Business Retention & Expansion initiative has paid dividends with several expansions. Additionally, the Foundation continues to work with the City of Sioux Falls on expansion projects and infrastructure developments.

Our Business Attraction efforts have resulted in land sales in Foundation Park and Sioux Empire Development Park 8; and we have implemented new and creative marketing techniques to promote the area. Our partnership with local brokers to tap into their national networks has created additional interest from companies across the country.

We have implemented new programs to identify and attract talent to the region and build up our talent from within. Many of our events are both in-person as well as virtual, allowing us to expand our reach far beyond our borders. Our WIN in Workforce Summit in October brought nearly 800 HR professionals, educators, and industry leaders together to share new ideas and best practices for successful talent recruitment, development, and retention. Talent Tours, Talent Rebound events and Talent Draft Day incorporate both in-person and virtual formats, resulting in hundreds of connections between local employers, high school, and post-secondary students to promote the benefits of living and working in Sioux Falls.

We will continue to employ these strategies and programs in 2023 and will continue to have success in growing our region. While these are challenging times in growing our workforce, we believe our efforts will have far-reaching effects on the future growth and sustainability of our region.

The message that Sioux Falls and South Dakota are the best place to own a business, raise a family, and be a young professional are becoming clear. In 2021, Sioux Falls welcomed 7,000 new residents. People are choosing to relocate here because of the quality of life that our community offers: great schools, parks, dining and entertainment, and economic opportunity. In 2023, we’ll be sharing that message with new prospects and potential residents.

It has been a pleasure serving as the Chair of the Board during 2022 and I leave this organization in good hands. Thanks to all of you who have made the Foundation the great economic engine that it is. The Board of Directors and leadership team appreciate your support and hope to continue serving you as members of the Foundation. THANK YOU and have a prosperous 2023.

2023 Chairman’s Message

Posted on by leahb

By Steve Kolbeck, Principal Manager, Xcel Energy South Dakota

What a great honor it is to be taking the helm of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation at a time of tremendous change and challenges. As the premier economic development organization in the region, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation has positioned itself to successfully meet those challenges.

Under past leadership, the Foundation has literally paved the way for business and industrial growth in the region by creating the Foundation Park mega site, recruiting thousands of new jobs and dozens of new companies, and creating a workforce recruitment model that is second to none. Past leadership has leveraged the cooperative spirit of Sioux Falls to finance these opportunities, create an aggressive marketing plan and create an environment of success in the region.

I want to thank Kurt Loudenback, Pat Costello, Todd Ernst and Tim McCarthy for their leadership over the past six years and welcome our three new Board members – Scott Wickersham, Raquel Blount and Chris Ekstrum – to the Board. I look forward to working with all of you to continue leading this community.

So what’s ahead in 2023?

  • Completion of grading and infrastructure development within Foundation Park North and Park 8 West including streets, sewers, water, power, and lot development.
  • Construction of the CJ Foods facility and more projects in Foundation Park.
  • Expected sales of 100 more acres in Foundation Park.
  • Full scale operation of Amazon & FedEx in Foundation Park South.
  • Construction of Presidio Manufacturing and the National Guard Readiness facility in Park 8 East.
  • Expansion of several existing companies that are currently in the planning process.
  • Implementation of the Falls Area Development Corporation and redevelopment of targeted areas for workforce housing opportunities.
  • Continuation and expansion of Workforce Initiatives with our State and local partners.
  • Strong marketing to site selectors, brokers, and workforce partners.
  • Opening of the Startup Sioux Falls Center in downtown Sioux Falls.
  • Opening of the Health Sciences Clinical Simulation Center at Southeast Technical College.
  • Continuous efforts to develop a strong quality of life in the region.

The Sioux Falls Development Foundation is proud to be leading these efforts and programs and we sincerely appreciate each one of you for your talents, your business, and your involvement in our community. I look forward to serving you as your Chair. Please continue to be a part of this great organization.

Have a great 2023.

From founder’s home to big expansion, business focused on supporting auto hobbyists sees surge in sales

Posted on by leahb

For months during the pandemic, automotive hobbyists had plenty of time to tinker in their garage – and it showed in sales for a Sioux Falls company that has grown from the ground up.

Dakota Digital started in founder Ross Ortman’s house in 1986. It’s now a 165-person operation that’s the leading manufacturer of aftermarket gauges for hot rods, muscle cars, street rods and trucks. It also has a full line of gauges for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

And it’s getting bigger in the coming year. The company is putting up a 40,000-square-foot expansion that will be connected to its current headquarters in northwest Sioux Falls, along with plans for a 60,000-square-foot building to the north that would be available for a tenant.

Dakota Digital

“When the pandemic hit, things went nuts,” Ortman said. “We’ve been struggling to keep up ever since.”

The new addition will connect to the existing building with an enclosed walkway for moving product back and forth. The multilevel building will house sales and tech support staff and offer additional warehouse space and electronics production area. It’s expected to be complete by the end of the year.

“We’re really squeezed into the length of what we’ve got now for open space, so we’re making our production lines longer with more automated equipment,” Ortman said. “Things will run a lot smoother.”

Dakota Digital

The expansion is the latest chapter of an impressive startup success story. As a high schooler, Ortman was into electronics and autos. In college, he did some technical writing, and after graduation he converted his work into articles for an industry magazine. Through that exposure, he began selling parts through mail order to other hobbyists.

Car from Dakota Digital

Dash panel from Dakota Digital

This 1967 Chevelle, seen at a recent SEMA trade show in Las Vegas, includes an instrument cluster that Dakota Digital manufactures.

By the time Ortman decided to leave his job seven years later, “I had a few people working out of my house,” he said. “I’d have people show up to work, and then I’d go to my full-time job.”

Dakota Digital gradually grew into commercial buildings, and by the early 2000s, it was out of space.

“The Sioux Falls Development Foundation actually opened their Park VII early because I wanted to move to that part of town,” Ortman said. “They said if I’d commit to being the first tenant, they’d get the streets in.”

In 2003, he moved into a 20,000-square-foot building on 6 acres in the northwest Sioux Falls development park near 60th Street North and Marion Road. It doubled in size five years later.

“We were the only ones out here in the middle of a cornfield for years, and now it’s growing like mad,” Ortman said. “For us, it really helped because a lot of my employees were from Canistota and Montrose and Humboldt, and I lived by Renner, so being in that part of town was good geographically for commutes.”

While Park VII is sold out of land today, “it was a slower development park,” said Dean Dziedzic, vice president of economic development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“We were out there way in advance, and everything is starting to catch up, with housing and commercial business filtering in around it. The game-changer was when Walmart located there in 2011, and we knew early on with the exit off I-90 and Marion Road that it would be an appealing area to develop, but it just took patience and growing tenants like Dakota Digital.”

Ortman knew the area was where he’d want to expand, so he purchased additional land before Walmart built nearby and the subsequent interest in the area.

“Ross has been great to work with for years,” Dziedzic said. “He served on our real estate committee for six years and was an asset to that, and he has a great business. They’ve just been booming, and we’re excited for their success.”

Despite supply chain-related issues that have plagued many industries, for Dakota Digital “it hasn’t been too bad,” Ortman said. “We always over-forecasted, and consequently the whole microchip shortage affected us to a lesser degree, so we got really lucky with long-range planning and forecasting.”

Dash Panel from Dakota Digital

The company designs and manufactures its products in-house, so “we’re very vertically integrated in that respect, from concept to engineering to the hardware and software development and the production side,” Ortman said. “We do all our machining in-house, our printing of overlays and the final electronics assembly and production.”

Dash Panel from Dakota Digital

As he prepares for the expansion, Ortman is hoping to hire up to 20 additional production workers.

“We have a lot of orders on the books and need help fulfilling everything,” he said. “We have a really good referral program, so that’s worked well for us, and we try to maintain a really good, quality family work environment.”

Dakota Digital has worked closely with the Sioux Falls Development Foundation since moving into its first park decades ago, Ortman said.

“They’ve been fantastic to work with,” he said. “Just going through concepts and with Dean and getting his thoughts was helpful and especially with the whole retail side of it that’s gone on in Park VII. We want to make sure we do the right thing for the neighborhood – something that’s going to fit well and just give the best visual impression.”

The potential 60,000-square-foot additional building is being marketed by Bender Commercial Real Estate Services.

Dakota Digital rendering

“If we get a tenant lined up for all or part of it, I’ll move on it sooner. Otherwise, I’ll wait until our expansion building is completed,” Ortman said. “Jans Corp. is doing all the dirt work for both buildings, so it’s ready to build whenever the timing is right. I think ultimately it will be a nice park-looking development with buildings that lay out really well together.”

To learn more about Dakota Digital, click here.