May 19, 2022

Property investor and business leader Ron Rensberger is the new owner of the Argus Leader Media building.

Rensberger, who owns Rensberger Properties and Rensberger Technologies, said he was attracted to the building on the southeast corner of 10th Street and Minnesota Avenue for its location, history and size. It’s nearly 100,000 square feet with a mix of office and production space.

“The history of it’s kind of fun,” said Rensberger, who grew up in Pipestone, Minnesota, delivering the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“It’s got extremely good bones, and that’s the thing that was most important to me. It’s been well-maintained. The roof is good, the bones are good, there’s elevator access in a couple places, plus a freight elevator.”

The original building dates back to the 1950s and was built for the newspaper. An addition was built in 1999, Rensberger said.

“It’s sort of fun to embrace that history,” he said. “We’ll revitalize that building. It makes a difference who the tenants are, but it’s our intention definitely to revitalize that building.”

He has a variety of commercial buildings in Sioux Falls, including several just south of The Empire Mall. His technology company owns the former Midwest Precision Tool & Die location on the north side of the city.

With the Argus Leader Media building, “we’re flexible,” he said. “We would like to have one or two tenants take the whole building, but we’re open to working with whoever’s needs show up. We’re fortunate enough to be resourceful and find tenants. We’ve got other large commercial buildings in town, so I’m confident my team and I will find solutions.”

For now, an agreement allows the newspaper to continue to occupy a portion of the building, and that could be extended, he said.

There’s potential for the building to be renovated into Class A space depending on interest, he added. His purchase also included two parking lots west of Minnesota Avenue.

“The building has 40,000 square feet of basement and garage, tall ceilings, so it could be underground parking,” Rensberger said.

Several potential buyers inquired about the listing, said Raquel Blount of Lloyd Cos., who helped broker the deal.

“We’re just pleased to be part of the transition and look forward to seeing the new opportunities this will bring for downtown,” she said.

Argus Leader Media will be looking for a new location, news director Cory Myers said in a story published by the newspaper.

The move comes about six months after the Argus Leader stopped printing the newspaper in Sioux Falls, moving that function to Des Moines with the rest of the South Dakota newspapers owned by Gannett Co. It stopped Saturday home delivery in March.