With business expansion, workforce housing, former Gage Brothers site filling up

A longtime South Dakota business expanding to Sioux Falls and a workforce housing project from a Denver developer could fill most of the remaining land on the former Gage Brothers site in western Sioux Falls.

Most of the structures on the 30-acre property at 12th Street and Interstate 29, now called The Crossroads, were demolished for redevelopment. But two buildings previously used by Gage were available for lease and are being filled by Stein Sign Display, a third-generation family business based in Watertown.

The company specializes in designing, manufacturing, installing and servicing interior and exterior signs for businesses and has incorporated billboard advertising into its operation.

“Part of the lure in my opinion is the opportunity we have to really showcase our skills and our abilities to the Sioux Falls business community,” said Stuart Stein, a third-generation owner of the business founded in 1952.

Winner of the 2024 South Dakota SBA Family Business of the Year Award, Stein Sign Display offers custom business signs, LED message centers, monument and pylon signs, and vinyl decals and graphics for vehicle and window branding. Its customer base includes franchises, small businesses, schools, hospitals and corporations across South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.

The company will use one of the former Gage buildings as an office for sales, management and design staff. The plan is to remodel a building on the south end of the site for garages for its crane trucks. There’s also enough room to potentially add a new building to support production.

“It checked so many boxes for us,” Stein said. “It’s quick, easy access when we’re shipping signs from Watertown and Webster, with premium visibility at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in Sioux Falls, with the ability to expand.”

While the Sioux Falls operation will begin with about a half-dozen people, it will be supported by 125 employees at ESCO Manufacturing, a wholesale company founded in 1965 by Stuart’s grandfather, Clint Stein, with locations in Webster and Watertown.

It ships thousands of signs nationally to other sign companies and has supported projects in places such as Madison Square Garden, MetLife Stadium and the Target Center.

The Sioux Falls expansion also provides Stein Sign Display with a new digital billboard location in Sioux Falls, adding to its 250 statewide.

“That’s the cherry on top,” Stein said. “We can put up a digital billboard in the northwest corner of the property … so that’s a huge addition to the portfolio for advertisers.”

The plan is to move in this spring.

“We’re excited to have another professional office there,” said Raquel Blount of Lloyd Cos., who represents the property. “We always intended to do a layering of commercial, so this fits in.”

The area has been filling in with retail for the past several years, beginning with Northern Tool + Equipment and adding Starbucks, Silverstar Car Wash and Voyager Federal Credit Union. Another lot is owned by IS Restaurant Design Equipment & Supply.

Last year, the land in the center of the development was rezoned for multifamily and is planned for a multiphase project led by Denver-based Big Red Development. Developer Ryan Tobin has spent 20 years developing mixed-use and multifamily properties after graduating from Brandon Valley High School.

He looked for a site in Sioux Falls for almost three years before finding the Gage property. Its location in a federally designated qualified census tract allows for a financial model that supports workforce housing, Tobin said.

“I think we’re going to have some fun with it,” he said. “It’ll be a nice transformation and a mix of uses. I love being able to bring some investment back and do some good for the community, particularly where there’s some need.”

The Rhys Apartments project calls for 178 two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments in its first phase, using a wrap-style, four-story building with amenities in the center.

“We’ve got a really awesome interior courtyard that includes pickleball and a multisurface court, and we have a tot lot — two playgrounds — some covered areas, a fitness room and a bike repair shop to round it out,” Tobin said. “Our focus is really building a family build and focusing on the kids.”

The rents will be capped at 60 percent of area median income, “but we’ll serve 30 to 80 percent of the average median income,” Tobin said. “We’re still climbing the hill to pull the whole (financing) package together … but I feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

The project’s second phase is envisioned as 120 to 150 units, primarily one-bedroom apartments that “will have more of a senior component to it,” he said.

The area is appealing because of its proximity to jobs, existing infrastructure and a transit location within walking distance. The plan is that tenants will have access to a free bus pass, Tobin said.

“And we’re improving area sidewalks in the community outside our footprint to make sure they’re safe for the bus stop,” he said.

Assuming financing comes together, the hope is to be under construction by late this year and open 16 to 17 months later.

With the Stein and multifamily deals, that leaves one parcel behind the Corner Pantry gas station and about an acre next to Northern Tool.

When redevelopment began, “we anticipated a mixture of retail and office, and we think the housing component is helpful to the businesses,” Blount said.

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