Nov. 15, 2018

Farmers Business Network has outgrown its Sioux Falls office and is moving to the former Globe University building, with plans to expand even more.

At more than 100 people, it has reached capacity at its office at 6009 S. Sharon Ave.

The Globe building at 5101 S. Broadband Lane is mostly empty other than space being leased temporarily by Meta Financial Group.

Farmers Business Network will move into the top floor and use part of the lower level to start.

“When we move to the top floor of the Globe building, which is 15,600 square feet, we’ll be basically full,” said Kelby Kleinsasser, vice president of operations.

“We’re giving people the amount of space they probably should be working with today.”

Farmers Business Network employs about 300 people nationwide. Sioux Falls has the highest growth rate, Kleinsasser said.

The company leverages technology and crowd sourcing to provide farmers with information to help them make decisions about their operations. It has branched into additional services such as financing, crop marketing and, most recently, insurance.

Fast-growing Farmers Business Network bringing in workers from at least 20 states

“When FBN launches into a new business, there are very few that don’t have some back-office requirement as well as customer service and sales,” he said.

“We naturally want to add those in a central location to create synergy between the other business units and leverage staff.”

The plan is to move in mid-December.

“They’re growing at such a rapid rate, and we saw an opportunity to help them with their expansion efforts in the Globe building,” said Scott Blount of Lloyd Cos., who brokered the deal for the lease.

“They were in a building one of my clients owned, and I had been the listing agent on the building, so I contacted Kelby, and we talked about Globe and toured it, and they thought it would be a perfect fit. It offers opportunity to expand within the building itself, and that’s huge for them.”

The move is being done with the company’s future needs in mind, Kleinsasser said. The first step would be to fill the lower level, bringing the staff to about 200 people. That likely will happen in less than two years, he said.

From there, another expansion can occur on the site.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Lloyd and the team there because they already architected a carbon copy of that building to the north, with an atrium in between, to double the size of the building,” Kleinsasser said.

While Farmers Business Network doesn’t require the interstate visibility that the new site provides, the ability to put a sign up with its name is a bonus, Blount said.

“They’re very innovative with their plans for the interior and their business climate, so it’s been a great group to work with,” he said. “Kelby’s very much a professional who knows what he wants and has been a pleasure to deal with. We’re excited at Lloyd Cos. about the long-term opportunities with Farmers Business Network.”