July 11, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

The community of Hartford is ready for new development, officially breaking ground today on an approximately 40-acre industrial park.

And it appears to be just what area businesses need.

“Until now, our development foundation has had no available industrial land,” said Amy Farr, the city’s economic development director who leads the Hartford Area Development Foundation.

“We sold our last parcel to a business that’s been successful and done amazing things for Hartford, and we knew there was a need for more options for other businesses.”

The surge in regional building activity in recent years has meant good business for Hartford-based Pro Framing Inc., which provides wood frame construction to everything from single-family homes to apartments and hotels.

But when it came to finding space to build the company’s own new office and shop, founder Eric Bartmann struck out.

“I’ve been wanting to build for a couple years and there’s been no land anywhere,” said Bartmann, who started the business in 2008 in Hartford and wanted to stay there.

That’s now a reality as he became the first to purchase land at the new North Oaks Industrial Park, which is on the city’s northwest side.

“Because of the proximity to the city, it’s really a perfect fit and gives us an area where we can put several businesses,” Mayor Arden Jones said.

Bartmann’s almost 3 acres will allow Pro Framing to build a space for its growing team, which includes up to 35 full-time staff depending on the season and more than 100 seasonal contractors. It also will allow room for a recently launched safety consulting business, Pro Safety Consultants, which works with businesses on everything from safety policies to job site audits.

“There’s a huge need for it,” Bartmann said of his latest venture. “I could see us taking on more compliance officers as we expand that business because it will be too big of a workload.”

He hopes to be ready for foundation work this fall with an opening sometime next year.

Pro Framing’s land purchase also paved the way for Hartford to receive about $2 million in state and federal funding that will support construction of roads and infrastructure for the industrial park.

“Those funds are very instrumental in allowing us to move forward, and we already have two additional purchase agreements pending on the completion of the road being put in,” Farr said. “This property benefits from nearby access to both interstate 29 and 90, along with our ability to offer smaller parcel sizes like we saw with Pro Framing.”

The industrial park groundbreaking builds on Hartford’s continuing momentum, said Tyler Tordsen, president and CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

“There are a lot of positive things happening in Hartford thanks to careful planning, strong leadership and a lot of community collaboration,” he said. “Available, buildable land is the first step toward success in economic development, and Hartford took a big leap forward with this week’s groundbreaking.”

Additionally, Hartford has 140 acres available not far from the industrial park that could develop as commercial, light industrial or housing. That property still needs infrastructure but already is drawing interest.

“We’ve had a lot of recent inquiries for office space, and while we don’t have existing buildings, we do have land,” Farr said.

“We have opportunities for people who might want to do an office building, retail center or mixed-use building in space that is valuable given its access. We’re seeing solid traction now that we have the available land.”

From a broader perspective, the community also is positioning itself for the future with a recent investment in wastewater. Its new treatment plant will serve not only Hartford but also Crooks, Colton and Lyons.

“We left Hartford plenty of room to grow, plus we have this opportunity to serve as the wastewater facility for the western part of Minnehaha County,” Jones said. “It’s making businesses look at us because we made an investment in infrastructure that’s going to drive this for the next 25 to 30 years.”

The city also is exploring ways to connect its bike trail to the new industrial park, which is near Swenson Park and its ballfields. As a mayoral initiative, Jones is aiming to help fill in gaps citywide in areas that lack sidewalks “so we have great walking paths for young people to get to school and so it’s easier for people to walk around town,” he said.

“We have several new rooftops going up right now. The first phase of our latest multifamily development, Maple Pass, is full, and we’re really working on building our identity as a community.”

In Hartford, “we know many of our citizens work in Sioux Falls,” he continued. “But after work, we want to be the place where they come home because we have the amenities they want. Our downtown brewery and downtown Hartford group has done a really nice job. We do a farmers market once a month, we had Corvettes downtown recently, food trucks, and from the city’s standpoint, we’re always looking to partner.”

To learn more about locating a business at the North Oaks Industrial Park, click here.