Former Gateway campus goes on market
By Dave Dreeszen ddreeszen@siouxcityjournal.com(c) Sioux City Journal 2008 | Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
A building sits on the former Gateway campus in North Sioux City.
NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Gateway's former campus, a network of five black-and-white cow-spotted buildings, has been put up for sale for $15.6 million.
That's a bargain for the 746,118 square feet of office and industrial space, according to Chris Bogenrief, president of United Commercial, which plans to start running ads for the property in the Journal Sunday.
At $20.94 per square foot, it's just a fraction of what it would take to build the space new. He estimates the replacement cost at $110 per square foot, or a total of $82 million.
Acer inherited the 76-acre site in the Gateway Business Park when it acquired Gateway's consumer business last year. The Taiwan-based computer maker wants to sell all the campus at once, rather than in separate parcels, Bogenrief said.
"You're basically getting a bulk discount," he said Thursday. "They priced it low enough where speculators could parcel it out and still make money."
The proposed Hyperion Energy Center, located about 20 miles up the road near Elk Point, S.D., could spark added national interest in the Gateway space, Bogenrief said. Some national investors are just now learning about the proposed $10 billion oil refinery and power plant. If built, it would attract multiple new businesses, including energy-related suppliers and vendors.
"This is the closest existing space to the Hyperion site that there is," Bogenrief said.
Earlier this year Acer announced it no longer wanted to be a landlord. Instead, the company plans to lease back a smaller space for its handful of workers still based in North Sioux City.
After a sale, Gateway, now a division of Acer, would continue to maintain its data center in about 56,000 square feet of space in Main, the most northerly campus building, Bogenrief said. That would take up all but the cafeteria in Main.
Main was the original home of Gateway's offices and manufacturing after the computer maker moved from Sergeant Bluff to North Sioux City in 1990. To keep up with rapid growth in the 1990s, the Fortune 500 company constructed four more large metal, machine shed-like buildings -- named Mexico, Pacific, Peru and Argentina.
Counting Gateway, about half the space now up for sale is currently under long-term leases, Bogenrief said. Those occupants include:
-- FIMCO, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, which leases about 144,00 square feet in the Peru building.
-- Alorica, a Chino, Calif.-based contract call center, maintains its local offices in about 112,000 square feet on the first floor of the Argentina building.
-- MPC Corp., a Idaho-based computer firm that purchased the commercial, educational and government portion of Gateway's business last year, has about 60,000 square feet on the second floor of the Argentina.
The entire 82,000-square-foot Pacific building is now empty.
Dick Salem, vice president of United Commercial, said the long-term leases, with scheduled rent increases, offer a stable cash flow and healthy rate of return for potential investors.
United, the local and regional listing agent for the property, is partnering with a national commercial real estate firm, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Grubbs & Ellis.
In an interview, Bogenrief and Salem said a number of potential investors already are showing interest in the property. Salem said he even received an offer, but it has not been accepted by Gateway.
About two-thirds of the space for sale is office-like, while the other third is industrial. Among the most talked about uses are call centers and data centers.
A single buyer could subdivide the campus into as many as five separate parcels, which could be developed as commercial condos for multiple tenants, Bogenrief said.
"We think it is going to be a real positive thing for Siouxland because of all the companies it's going to attract," Bogenrief said.
Selling points are the campus' proximity to Interstate 29, the metro area's growing economy and South Dakota's favorable business climate. In addition, the Gateway site has an abundance of parking, with nearly 4,000 spaces.
Gateway campus by the numbers
$15.625 -- List price of property in millions of dollars
5 -- Number of cow-spotted metal buildings
746,118 -- Total square footage in the buildings
1990 -- Year first building, Main, was built
3,899 -- Total number of parking spaces on campus
-- Dave Dreeszen
That's a bargain for the 746,118 square feet of office and industrial space, according to Chris Bogenrief, president of United Commercial, which plans to start running ads for the property in the Journal Sunday.
At $20.94 per square foot, it's just a fraction of what it would take to build the space new. He estimates the replacement cost at $110 per square foot, or a total of $82 million.
Acer inherited the 76-acre site in the Gateway Business Park when it acquired Gateway's consumer business last year. The Taiwan-based computer maker wants to sell all the campus at once, rather than in separate parcels, Bogenrief said.
"You're basically getting a bulk discount," he said Thursday. "They priced it low enough where speculators could parcel it out and still make money."
The proposed Hyperion Energy Center, located about 20 miles up the road near Elk Point, S.D., could spark added national interest in the Gateway space, Bogenrief said. Some national investors are just now learning about the proposed $10 billion oil refinery and power plant. If built, it would attract multiple new businesses, including energy-related suppliers and vendors.
"This is the closest existing space to the Hyperion site that there is," Bogenrief said.
Earlier this year Acer announced it no longer wanted to be a landlord. Instead, the company plans to lease back a smaller space for its handful of workers still based in North Sioux City.
After a sale, Gateway, now a division of Acer, would continue to maintain its data center in about 56,000 square feet of space in Main, the most northerly campus building, Bogenrief said. That would take up all but the cafeteria in Main.
Main was the original home of Gateway's offices and manufacturing after the computer maker moved from Sergeant Bluff to North Sioux City in 1990. To keep up with rapid growth in the 1990s, the Fortune 500 company constructed four more large metal, machine shed-like buildings -- named Mexico, Pacific, Peru and Argentina.
Counting Gateway, about half the space now up for sale is currently under long-term leases, Bogenrief said. Those occupants include:
-- FIMCO, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, which leases about 144,00 square feet in the Peru building.
-- Alorica, a Chino, Calif.-based contract call center, maintains its local offices in about 112,000 square feet on the first floor of the Argentina building.
-- MPC Corp., a Idaho-based computer firm that purchased the commercial, educational and government portion of Gateway's business last year, has about 60,000 square feet on the second floor of the Argentina.
The entire 82,000-square-foot Pacific building is now empty.
Dick Salem, vice president of United Commercial, said the long-term leases, with scheduled rent increases, offer a stable cash flow and healthy rate of return for potential investors.
United, the local and regional listing agent for the property, is partnering with a national commercial real estate firm, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Grubbs & Ellis.
In an interview, Bogenrief and Salem said a number of potential investors already are showing interest in the property. Salem said he even received an offer, but it has not been accepted by Gateway.
About two-thirds of the space for sale is office-like, while the other third is industrial. Among the most talked about uses are call centers and data centers.
A single buyer could subdivide the campus into as many as five separate parcels, which could be developed as commercial condos for multiple tenants, Bogenrief said.
"We think it is going to be a real positive thing for Siouxland because of all the companies it's going to attract," Bogenrief said.
Selling points are the campus' proximity to Interstate 29, the metro area's growing economy and South Dakota's favorable business climate. In addition, the Gateway site has an abundance of parking, with nearly 4,000 spaces.
Gateway campus by the numbers
$15.625 -- List price of property in millions of dollars
5 -- Number of cow-spotted metal buildings
746,118 -- Total square footage in the buildings
1990 -- Year first building, Main, was built
3,899 -- Total number of parking spaces on campus
-- Dave Dreeszen
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 11 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
bobf wrote on Nov 10, 2008 3:45 PM:
Benjamin wrote on Nov 8, 2008 4:39 PM:
Kim wrote on Nov 7, 2008 6:37 PM:
andrea wrote on Nov 7, 2008 5:09 PM:
It could be what it was before.....just start over!! "
Kim wrote on Nov 7, 2008 4:00 PM: