Oct. 2, 2023

With about a week left before Lloyd Cos. became the first business to move into the downtown office tower it developed at The Steel District, co-founder Craig Lloyd was told not to come back until the big reveal.

“And then I walked in,” he said. “There were two chairs and a ‘welcome home’ sign. ‘Welcome to your new work home.’”

It was a long way from the small west-side office he and his wife, Pat, originally worked from when they first moved to Sioux Falls in 1972.

“Pat was in the reception area, and I had an office behind her, and I bet the whole office was from about here to the end of that wall,” Craig Lloyd said, pointing from the desk of his new office overlooking Falls Park.

One day, they decided to each choose one picture for their walls, “so we went down to Lewis, and we each picked out our own picture,” Pat Lloyd said. “Mine was a farm scene with rolling hills, and Craig’s were sailboats, which were exactly where we’d come from.”

They – and the company – have come a long way. Lloyd Cos. now occupies more than two floors of the nine-story Steel District building, enough for 170 employees today with room to grow to at least 200.

“I really got tears in my eyes,” Craig Lloyd said. “I just started thinking back. What got me the most was we would have never dreamt this big. I had a lot of dreams but never this big.”

The new office brings most of the Lloyd team back under one roof after the business outgrew its office at the downtown Lumber Exchange building and had teams in other locations.

“We want to present ourselves as a family business that cares about employees,” Craig Lloyd said. “I walked around a couple times that first day, and what really impressed me is how everyone was excited. People are excited to be here, which is easy for a new building, but they’re excited about everything – the windows, how they get to see out – and the thought this team has put into every detail has absolutely blown my mind away.”

While some of the finishing touches have yet to come together, there are nods to Lloyd’s more than 50-year history throughout the space – down to a time capsule filled for the anniversary and buried under the stairs.

“It’s so touching the way they’ve preserved the history and the culture in everything,” Pat Lloyd said.

The new office is connected to The Steel District’s parking ramp via skywalk, which CEO Chris Thorkelson called one of his favorite parts.

“I love looking up at the Cathedral and looking down Fourth Street, and it’s all new to us,” he said. “We’re a construction company, so we’re accustomed to construction activity, but I get to now see it every day up close. I get to work in it every day, which is a lot of fun as well to continue to see it take shape and seeing the team’s vision come together.”

The office features a two-story open staircase and multiple collaboration areas.

There’s also an expansive employee lounge with a fireplace and patio.

“Just the vibe and the energy and the activity that will come of this is super exciting,” Thorkelson said.

“There was a lot of thought put into the connectivity opportunities, and plus you have an office building with 360-degree views all around. You get to see the sun rise in the morning … and be overlooking the Falls, which is just a view not a lot of people have had. It’s just cool being downtown and being part of the north end and knowing what it was and what it’s starting to become.”

Christie Ernst, Lloyd’s executive vice president of property management, took a lead role in designing the space.

“We started with just one floor when we were starting this process, and then we started projecting where we were going with hiring, and we needed more than two floors,” she said. “We have everyone assigned to a space, and we’re realizing … we might have to add more we didn’t plan on because we started the process two years ago.”

Offices were put in the center of the building, allowing those in workstations to have access to the views and natural light, Ernst said.

“And we’re always out of conference space, so we have a Zoom room where you almost feel like you’re talking to the person on the screen, and then we have more lounge-type meeting spaces and some conference rooms,” she said.

“We have an outdoor patio overlooking the Falls – you can hear the Falls roaring – and we have several coffee areas and lots of copy room – four different copy areas.”

In the employee lounge, there’s even a custom-made Lloyd shuffleboard table.

“We have space that has booth seating, so you can throw up whatever you’re looking at on a screen, and then we have lounge seating in there,” Ernst said. “We’re using the prime space in the building in ways that everyone can enjoy.”

And despite how employees are still setting up their spaces, the company already sees it might not be long before more moves are needed.

“I hate to say it, but it might be too small in five or six years,” Craig Lloyd said. “We’ve got options – this building is designed for that. I couldn’t be more pleased.”