New business breathes new life into downtown Sioux City

Last October, Ho-Chunk Inc., in partnership with the Sioux Falls-based real estate and development firm Dunham Co., purchased the Terra Centre and its two-story atrium at 600 Fourth St. Some other investors also were part of the purchase.

The 10-story, glass-fronted office tower had been the headquarters for Terra Industries, which was taken over by rival fertilizer maker CF Industries in 2010. Terry built the tower in 1983.

The building now is known as the Ho-Chunk Centre, named after the economic development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. A new sign and logo sit atop the building and at the entrances.

The change is just part of ongoing additions to the central business district, which have seen the opening of other new businesses in the past year.

"We're putting a new roof on and updating the HVAC," Ryan Rients with the Dunham Co. said. "That's all weather-permitting. We plan to be finished this summer."

Rients said a new 10-year lease has been reached with Wells Fargo, which has been leasing space in the building on the first and second floors. Renovations are underway to allow the commercial banking and wealth management departments to move from the second to the first floor, where the bank's retail and mortgage offices are located. Placing all banking operations on the same floor will be an added convenience to Wells Fargo's customers.

To make room for all 50 downtown bank employees, Rients noted that renovations will include taking the former Arby's space on the first floor, which has been vacant since the restaurant closed.The bank renovation project should be completed in June.

Additionally, Rients said Sedgwick-Brennan Abstract Co. will move to an office on the first floor on May 1 from its space in the Francis building, at 507 Fifth St. The firm, the oldest abstract company in Woodbury County, was established in 1862.

Little Priest Tribal College, based in Winnebago, Neb., held its grand opening of a new satellite office in the Ho-Chunk Centre this past Friday (March 8) in suite 229. Ho-Chunk also will have a satellite office in the building.

Rients said additional space remains available for tenants. For more information, contact him at 605-330-9422.

Other new downtown businesses include:

Chatterkick, 406 Virginia St.

Companies needing a kick start in entering the social media age can obtain help from a new Sioux City business.

A year ago, Beth Trejo and Kyle Kelly formed Chatterkick, at 306 Virginia St.

“We do Web development, create a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook and Google on the Internet,” Virginia Anderson, the company’s finance manager, said. “Then we manage it and do additional postings for them. We can manage their ad campaigns and can feature their products.”

The staff also will handle blogging for clients either too busy to do so themselves, or still intimidated by the Internet environment.

“Everyone wants instant information and instant updates on business and other things going on,” Trejo said. “

Trejo said she discovered a need for social media services while working as the director of investor relations at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.

“We had integrated social media as part of our members’ benefits,” she said.

A number of Chamber members continually asked her if she could take care of all their social media tasks. She could not since she had other duties at the Chamber, but saw a trend that prompted her to become a social media strategist full-time with businessman and real estate developer Kelly.

“On our second day of launching, we landed an international franchise,” Trejo said. “It has operations in the United States and Canada.”

Chatterkick has other clients around the country as well as locally.

The firm employs one full-time person and several part-timers in addition to Trejo and Anderson, who handles the books.

‘While I live in the world of the Internet, I still believe in personal interactions,” Trejo stated. “It’s just that some handshakes are virtual.”

The Whistle Stop Consignment Shop, 506 Nebraska St.

Chuck Swaggerty decided to turn his passion for antiques into a full-time profession.

“I had a sales job in Sioux City and bought and sold antiques on the side,” he said.

In January 2012, he and Jason Morgan opened The Whistle Stop Consignment Shop in downtown Sioux City in a 4,500-square-foot store. The store is packed with items large and small.

They sell costume jewelry, antique lights, furniture, china, figurines, jars, paintings and prints along with a hundreds of other items. They also rent to 22 people whose spaces range from a single shelf to large display cases.

“I have one lady who only sells designer handbags and jewelry,” Swaggerty said.

His favorite finds involve discovering antique lights and lamps, as well as antique pieces of furniture including doors, hardware such as door knobs and wooden mantles.

“People are going ‘green’ so they really want to buy used things much more than they used to,” he said. “People also are rehabbing older houses and re-purposing them. Often then can find matching pieces at our shop.”

He also accepts items on consignment, splitting the eventual sale with the owner on a 50-50 basis.

Swaggerty is the full-time manager since Morgan has returned to college full-time to obtain a degree in elementary education.

He said customers contact him from across the country when they see items he has posted on Craig’s List or Facebook.

”It’s really been fun to be downtown,” he said.

Vangarde Arts, 427 Pierce St.

Vangarde Arts is not your typical art museum or performance place.

Rather, owner Brent Stockton describes it as a cultural center featuring the work of Siouxland artists, musicians, dancers and writers.

“We’ve been experimenting with that concept since last summer,” he said. “We’ve had live musical events to interactive art events.”

Programs have featured musicians performing for the public who also could browse tables-full of pottery, paintings and other artists’ creations, which were for sale.

While these types of programs have been popular, Stockton said he eventually will shift the center’s focus to a members’ only club, A small annual fee would be charged.

“As opposed to being a pure cultural center, I want to create more of a social club to be a gathering place,” said Stockton, who owns NLS Promotions and is an artist himself.

He also plans to rent the building for special events to groups, families or organizations. The space can seat 100 people.

Vangarde Arts still will have space available for artists to showcase their works, for musicians and dancers to perform and writers to read their works.

Currently, the center is open only for special programs.

He announced some upcoming events:

• March 16: Learn to be an Artist: For a fee (to be announced), the public can receive a canvass and paints to create something under the guidance of a professional artist. The 2 ½-hour session should start around 7 p.m. Details will be announced.
• March 22: Blues Rock Performance: A trio led by Ross William Perry of Minneapolis will perform starting at 8 p.m. $10 admission.
• March 23: Dance Performance: starting at 8 p.m. $5 admission. 

For more information, contact Stockton at 712-251-6432.

Others:

• Heritage Bank, 505 Fifth St. in the Frances building, Suite 100, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 13 to celebrate the opening of their office. The new branch replaced the traditional stand-up teller lines with the bank's sit-down customer service stations. The bank also has ar eal estate mortgage lender and investment advisory representative at the location.
• Lederman Bonding Co., 706 Pierce St. Owned by South Dakota State Sen. Dan Lederman; is a second-generation business with three brothers that was founded by his father in Waterloo, Iowa; now has several sites in Iowa and South Dakota. Posts bail to individuals who have been arrested so they can remain in their community while awaiting a court hearing.
• Trattoria Fresco, 416 Jackson St., offers family-style Italian food.The menu is printed in both Italian and English The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner.