SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa | Even though Polaris Industries, with 1,250 employees, is by far the area’s largest employer, Mayor Blain Andera says there's much more to his community.
Iowa Lakes Corridor Economic Development Director Kiley Miller agrees.
“So much growth goes unnoticed -- such a diverse employment base," Miller said. "The lakes area is really seeing a lot of positive energy. I come from southeast Iowa. And I love my home area. But it’s just a different environment here. There’s a lot more natural energy in the economy.
“Everybody gets so wrapped up in Polaris. Polaris is awesome -- an incredible asset. But there is the mistaken impression that it all begins and ends with Polaris.”
With the growth of the national economy in recent years, Spirit Lake has benefited with new homes, new retail and commercial and industrial development, Andera said.
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Where only seven building permits for new single-family homes were issued in 2009, there were 12 in 2010, 14 in 2011, 17 in 2012, 23 in 2013, and 24 in 2014. And after the four years from 2009 to 2012 when no permits were issued for new apartment units, there were 12 building permits for new apartment units issued in 2013, and 14 more in 2014.
Andera, director of Spirit Lake’s MainSail Chamber of Commerce, also points to the city’s $1.6 million infrastructure project for Phase Three of the Southern Hills residential area and the announcement by Spencer-based IGL Construction that it has purchased 57 acres just north of the Dickinson County Expo Center where the company has outlined plans for 120 single-family dwellings and about 200 one- and two-story town homes.
Several small retailers and offices have recently moved or expanded in Spirit Lake’s Hill Avenue downtown area, where there are very few vacancies.
The mayor takes special pride in the city’s new splash park recreational area at Memorial Park on East Lake Okoboji. Kiwanians raised $160,000 for the project, he said.
Other major projects in Spirit Lake:
* Keelson Harbor Senior Living Community expects occupancy May 1 for its three-story, $5 million expansion that will add 27 new assisted living units to the 40 existing assisted living and 24 memory care units. Administrator Jean Greeley said the project has been under construction for about a year.
* Brownmed recently completed a $2.785 million, 50,000-square-foot addition, more than doubling its 31,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility on the west side of Spirit Lake. With the expansion, the medical devices company will have about 45 employees in Spirit Lake, in addition to a research, development and marketing office in Boston, which Matt Garver, vice president, marketing, said is the center of the Northeast medical corridor. Brownmed sells to distributors in more than 100 countries.
* Northwest Bank, with 23 locations in 17 Iowa and Nebraska cities, is undertaking a consolidation of its Spirit Lake offices with the construction of one new $2.5 million 8,000-square-foot office at 1801 18th St. -- the entire city block between Jackson and Keokuk avenues.
Northwest Iowa Regional President Joe Conover said the new offices will become home to all 20 of the bank’s Spirit Lake employees and feature four drive-up lanes and parking for 50 to 60 vehicles at the former Pro-Build lumber yard area.
* Rembrandt Foods, the nation's third-largest egg producer, which had been based at The Stables, in Okoboji, now occupies the north part of the Great Lakes Mall with 70 employees, following a $1 million remodel there. The facility includes a new research and development lab. Human Resources Director Hans Paulson said he expects the employee count to expand by another 20 to 25 people in the next 18 months, as the company expands its operations in places like Thompson, Iowa.
* Spirit Lake Storage, LLC completed a $1.2 million self-storage facility in 2014.
* Great Lakes Motor Company, an automobile sales and service business at 3451 U.S. Highway 71 South, opened in January. After a 10-year hiatus from the automobile business, John Harmelink and Tom Rierson, former owners of the GM and Toyota dealership in Spirit Lake, returned with a $1 million facility that includes a showroom and service area that they expect will be completed in May, featuring six service bays and an alignment rack. John Peterson is also a part of the new venture.
Expansions in the not-for-profit area:
* Lakes Regional Healthcare’s recently completed $20 million expansion was completed in the spring of 2014 and now employs some 280 professionals primarily from Dickinson and the surrounding counties, with patients from a like area.
* Spirit Lake Community School District completed a $6.5 million expansion of the high school in 2014.
* The Bedell Family YMCA is in the midst of a 12,000-square-foot $1.3 million addition to its main 48,000-square-foot campus. Director Norm Johnson said the new “character center” focused on youth activities includes 2,100 square feet of gymnasium space, a 25-foot, five-sided climbing tower, a commercial kitchen and full cafeteria, a resource space for school work and tutoring, and a game room on an upper level.
There will also be two racquetball-handball courts. An additional multi-purpose room will provide space for more physical activities and fitness classes. Johnson said he expects the project to be completed in time for the YMCA’s summer program that begins in June.
