Maguire Iron planning modern headquarters in new industrial development
July 7, 2022
Sioux Falls-based Maguire Iron, which builds and maintains water tanks and towers nationwide, plans to build a new headquarters on 30 acres in northeast Sioux Falls.
It’s part of a larger 170-acre new industrial development off the northwest quadrant of interstates 90 and 229.
“It’s a family legacy project,” Maguire Iron CEO Gene Jones Jr. said. “For our up-and-coming leaders and family owners, we’re setting this up for their success for the next 30 to 50 years.”
The new approximately $30 million Maguire campus will include three buildings totaling 115,000 square feet – a corporate office headquarters, fabrication facility and maintenance facility.
“The big vision is a place to work, a place to grow, a place to learn, with new technology and robotics, leaning into the wellbeing and health of our co-workers,” president Scott Jones said. “Creating an environment where they can flourish both professionally and personally and with their families.”
The buildings are being designed and built by Fiegen Construction, which is working with an outside group to include elements designed to enhance the employees’ experience.
“It’s a really unique architectural design – lots of glass, lots of steel, and a lot of natural components that play into the exterior design,” Gene Jones Jr. said. “We’re really excited about the opportunity for this new facility to be a high-level, high-profile recruiting and retention tool for bringing in the best talent in the region.”
Family-owned Maguire Iron currently employs more than 170 people companywide, including about 70 in Sioux Falls. The new campus is designed for about 150 people with enough land to expand the buildings as needed, he said.
For employees, the new buildings will offer a focus on lighting, acoustics and air quality, along with a lot of new technology.
“We’re going to be incorporating a lot of innovation and automation,” Gene Jones Jr. said. “We’ll be incorporating some robotics, a lot of improved welding processes, and overhead cranes will be a big part of it.”
Maguire Iron’s current campus on North Minnesota Avenue includes seven buildings, so the new layout will allow greater end-to-end efficiency as spaces are combined, he said. The company has operated from that site since 1993 and plans to retain some of the buildings as investment properties while selling others, he said.
The move to the northeast is a little sooner than originally planned, but the business is experiencing record demand, Scott Jones said.
Federal dollars have flowed in to communities for investing in infrastructure, meaning many have bought new water towers and tanks or decided to do work on current ones – and more are expected to follow.
“We’re hoping to increase our capacity by 50 to 60 percent,” Scott Jones said. “Part of our growth plan is to hire new sales people, new leadership team players and just create an environment where we can all be successful.”
Maguire also added a southern headquarters in Texas late last year and plans to hold a ribbon cutting there next week.
“We have four salesmen down there and they’re doing a great job supporting the operations team and it’s going really well,” Scott Jones said.
The plan is to start construction in Sioux Falls this fall and open in early 2024.
The broader development park, called Sioux Falls Industrial Park, is attracting other interest too, said Steve VanBuskirk, president of land development for property owner Van Buskirk Companies.
The development has annexed an initial 82 acres with about 90 more available for future growth.
“It’s just a good long-term development, with super high visibility,” VanBuskirk said. “It sits up high above Sioux Falls, so for businesses that want a bit of visibility to go along with their facility it’s a great location for that and very convenient for interstate access. Those are the two driving pieces, and the industrial area up there really is quite full.”
Business inside and outside Sioux Falls are considering locating there, he said, adding the Maguire project is an ideal one to kick off the development.
“It’ll be amazing,” VanBuskirk said. “It’s obvious they care about what they do, with what they did along Minnesota Avenue years ago with the Sioux quartzite building. They really put together a nice facility and it represents Sioux Falls well.”
