Nov. 8, 2023

The Argus Leader is moving out of its longtime location in downtown Sioux Falls this week, and the building’s new owner is making plans for its future.

Gannett Co. sold the building on the southeast corner of 10th Street and Minnesota Avenue last year to Ron Rensberger, owner of Rensberger Private Investments.

The Argus Leader continued to be a tenant in the building, leasing a couple thousand square feet of office space, Rensberger said.

“I was hoping the brand of the building would have some connection to the Argus Leader into the future, even if they were just a very small footprint,” he said.

The two couldn’t come to an agreement on a lease, though, Rensberger said. Late last week, the Argus Leader reported it would move its operations to 710 N. Western Ave., the former Sigler Fire Equipment Company.

The newspaper has been printed in Des Moines for the last two years and then delivered overnight to Sioux Falls. It’s now transitioning to mail delivery through the U.S. Postal Service.

“The team of seven to 10 reporters will join the rest of its distribution team in a space more conducive to the newsroom’s needs,” news director Shelly Conlon wrote.

Rensberger, who owns Rensberger Properties and Rensberger Technologies, said he was attracted to the building for its location, history and size. It’s nearly 100,000 square feet with a mix of office and production space.

The Argus Leader occupied the downtown space for nearly 70 years. Rensberger said he has had interest from a potential buyer and tenants for the building in the last year, but nothing came together other than a lease for some warehouse space that has expired.

“I wasn’t looking for them to leave, because any time you’re a landlord and you have tenants, that’s a good thing, but having them leave helps us redefine and rebrand in a different way,” he said. “It frees us up to other ideas. We have an architecture firm working on creating renderings that will show a different-looking building, a more updated building, and we’re looking to find a solution for that high-profile corner.”

The property includes two parking lots on the west side of Minnesota Avenue and the entire lower level could be a warehouse or garage, Rensberger said. It also could be a good location for nonprofit or other offices, he added.

“We still remain really confident that there will be demand for that location and that building. It’s just the bigger the project, the longer it takes,” he said. “We want to remain open to different options we haven’t really considered yet.”

The Argus Leader sign will be coming down, he added.

The newspaper’s archive also was included in the building sale, so Rensberger now is the owner of more than a century of Sioux Falls news history.

Prior to the sale, the Argus Leader offered several archival collections to Siouxland Heritage Museums.

“We took their photograph collection, and we have been organizing and cataloging it,” said Adam Nyhaug, registrar of Siouland Heritage Museums.

“I would estimate that between the photographs and negatives, we will have about 30,000 catalog records. We did take several books and artifacts as well. Mostly awards given to the Argus Leader, or memorabilia from local events that they helped sponsor.”

The museum also filled in gaps in its bound newspaper collection, and has most Argus Leaders from 1897 to 1955, and then a few from 1955 to 1975. Most of the newer editions have been digitized. Most of those print copies are still in the basement of the building.

“I’ve still got a very comprehensive set of archives back to the 1800s,” Rensberger said. “My thinking was we’d retain the historical aspect of that rich history. I don’t need to do that, but somebody needs to do that. Somebody needs to treasure that.”