Location. Location. Location.
That's the reason a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based professional engineering firm opened its first Sioux City office last fall in the Martin Luther King Jr. Transportation Center.
"We felt this was a new building that had a perfect location and access to the public," Chad Huwe, project manager of the Sioux City office of Howard R. Green Co., said.
"We did consider several other buildings and looked at a few of them. We can get on the skywalk from here and in a couple of minutes be at City Hall. We thought it was a good spot to be working at."
The firm occupies 1,500 square feet of office space on the Nebraska Street side of the King Center on the ground floor. Other space remains available for rent from the city.
As the first tenant in the King Center, Huwe said people often ask him about the city transit and Jefferson Lines vehicles that run through the building.
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"Everybody asks me about the buses. I don't ever hear them. I don't ever smell them."
Company executives decided to open a branch office in Sioux City "because we had real strong ties with the community from the work Bill (Moran) had done here."
Moran, regional manager in the firm's Sioux Falls office, served as the interim city engineer for 14 months in 2003 through 2004 while he and his company evaluated the engineering division and recommended a reorganization plan. While working at City Hall, he was promoted to company vice president in the main office in Cedar Rapids.
"We kind of pride ourselves on our customer service," Huwe explained. "We offer the best customer service we can to the city and the area. ... We have people in Sioux City every day from other offices. It was crucial to have a kind of base camp."
Howard R. Green has worked on a number of projects for the city. One of the biggest involves the design of the Outer Drive Connector project.
Currently, Huwe and his staff are doing survey work for the Iowa Department of Transportation's Interstate 29 study. The state plans to rebuild the interstate through Sioux City.
"We're kind of wrapping that up now," Huwe said. "A lot of survey work is being handled out of this office. We are doing a couple of storm drainage projects for the city. We have upcoming work in Elk Point - a lift station and a couple of blocks of sanitary sewer replacement and a water main installation to do there."
Huwe, a civil engineer, moved from Sioux Falls to Sioux City last summer, working out of his home until the office in the King Center was remodeled.
A native of Colton, S.D., he is a graduate of South Dakota State University. Prior to joining Howard R. Green last May, he worked as the principal water engineer for the city of Sioux Falls. He also worked as an environmental engineer with CDM.
A second civil engineer, Eric Hanson, another SDSU graduate, just joined the Sioux City office as a staff engineer. The third member of the staff is Matt Voge, an engineering technician.
The Howard R. Green Co. is a regional multi-discipline professional services firm, which also operates offices in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, St. Paul, Moline, Ill., and St. Louis.
Spaces available at MLK Center
The "For Rent" sign is up at the Martin Luther King Jr. Transportation Center.
Three office spaces are available for tenants from the city of Sioux City. The fourth space has been rented to the Howard R. Green Co.
"Three different entities have expressed some serious interest in the spaces recently," Don Willoughby, the city's business development coordinator, said.
The smallest room covers 500 square feet and is located south of the bus terminal lobby on the corner of Fifth and Nebraska streets. Another space with 2,500 square feet is available facing Nebraska Street, between the smaller space and the Howard R. Green office.
The largest space covers 3,000 square feet and sits on the corner of Sixth and Nebraska streets.
Willoughby said such businesses as architectural firms and restaurants would make good tenants for the King Center.
