SIOUX CITY | After consolidating its operations in a single, larger Sioux City facility last year, Tec-Corp. continued to grow its electrical contracting and technical services businesses.
Tech Corp is the Sioux City-based holding company for Thompson and Electric Innvoations. Combined at its locations in Omaha, Sioux City and Sioux Falls, the companies employ more than 540.
Nearly 200 employees are based at the firm's current Sioux City facility at 2300 Seventh St., an increase of about 50 workers from the previous year, said Tec-Corp CEO Skip Perley.
Built in 1937 by Standard Oil Co., the long-vacant warehouse, with more than 66,000 square feet of enclosed space, was extensively remoded into offices and storage, with the three companies moving in last March.
The $4 million project put the Sioux City operations under one roof for the first time, and tripled their combined space.
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The three companies previously occupied five separate buildings, with a combined 22,000 square feet, at 14th and Jackson Streets. Thompson Electric had operated at that site since Alford E. Thompson started the company in 1933.
To retain a major, growing employer that had earlier considered sites in neighboring states, the city approved a developed agreement with TEC-Corp after the Iowa Economic Development authority approved the company’s application for Targeted Jobs Withholding Tax Credit Program. The pilot program lets employers keep a portion of the money that would have gone for payroll taxes for 10 years to invest in expansion.
Thompson Electric, one of the region's largest and oldest electrical contractors, boasts a resume that includes a wide array of commercial and industrial projects, from office buildings, retail shops and hospitals to power plants, grain elevators and airport terminals.
Thompson is among the local subcontractors working at the site of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, a $128.5 million gaming and entertainment venue slated to open in late summer at Third and Water streets.
Electric Innovations, which started in 2000, offers technical services such as IT support, computer network hosting and the installation, testing and maintenance of fire alarms, security and surveillance systems. Since relocating to the Seventh Street location, Electric Innovation has expanded its help desk on the second floor to serve a growing client base, Perley said.
Thompson Electric occupies the first floor, with its entrance and parking is off of Sixth Street, adjacent to a McDonald's restaurant. The electric contractor's space includes a 12,000-square-foot prefabrication shop, where employees assemble components in a climate-controlled environment before heading to the job site.
Tec-Corp is on the third floor. The entrance for both Tec-Corp and Electric Innovations is on the north side of the building, off Seventh Street.
All of the offices are in the 1937 building, which boasts architecturally interesting spaces. Th interior feature original curved block glass, exposed brick and concrete columns. The concrete floors were polished in the public spaces, while new carpet was laid in the offices and conference rooms.
The wide hallways encourage collaboration between employees.
"There's room to stand in the hallways and talk just like we are now," Perley said.
A generous use of glass helps illuminate the offices and common spaces with natural light.
"The building we moved out of had no windows so we're really learning how to use a lot of light," Perley said. "It's really nice, especially on a sunny day like today."
As part of the renovation, the ceilings were intentionally left exposed for architectural appeal, and to show off work performed by the companies' skilled technicians.
"The building is a tremendous opportunity for our customers to learn more about us," Perley said.
The post-modern industrial design was extended to a two-story addition on the east side of the original structure that was built in the 1980s as a showroom for a plumbing supply business.
The white grey exterior of the addition was covered with panels of corten steel. The metal will naturally rust over time, changing from a yellowish orange to a darker rust color.
To keep water runoff from coming down the panels and staining the sidewalk and landscaping below, welded wire filled with river rocks, or "rocks in a cage," as Perley likes to call them, were wrapped around the lower bottom of the exterior wall.
The rock fencing also keeps people from rubbing up against the rusting steel and accidentally staining their clothing.
The corten steel look was carried into the addition's first floor, which was transformed into a spacious lobby for Thompson Electric. Just off the lobby is a large training center. Employees are encouraged to reserve the space for their own after-hour events, which have included family gatherings, receptions, and even a worship service.
Other employee amenities in the building include a fitness area with changing rooms and showers, and a break room with old-style booths.
The centralized location near Sixth Street's intersection of Business Highway 75 offers easy access for crews headed to and from job sites, and for trucks delivering equipment and supplies. The site also is within a few blocks of offices for most of the contractors that Thompson Electric regularly does business with, Perley said.
