Most of the moving boxes were still loaded, but for now the South Sioux City Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism has a temporary place to call home.
After spending a little more than a year tucked away inside the corner of the old Iowa-Nebraska State Bank building on the corner of 21st Street and Dakota Avenue, the Chamber has a temporary new home in the South Ridge Plaza until a planned 8,500-square foot building begins construction later this month.
Chamber president Lori Warner told the Dakota County Star that the plan is to move into an area of about 2,200 square feet as one of three local businesses that will occupy the new building, which will be going up on West 29th Street between the Northeast Nebraska Senior Center and Mohr & Becker Hunt Funeral Home.
Warner said she is excited about moving into the new structure, which will allow for more space for the Chamber to work from and help continue its efforts to help the local business community.
“It will have a nice conference room that we can use for meetings, and it will be more functional for Chamber members so that if they need space to hold a meeting, they can use the conference room as a benefit of its membership,” she said.
The Chamber will be one of three local businesses that will occupy the new space. Werner said she was not at liberty to disclose the other businesses that will move to the new location, other than to say that both are current members of the South Sioux City Area Chamber.
Warner said ground is set to be broken at the new location, and the plan is for the building to be ready for occupancy sometime in the late summer or early fall of 2026.
“It should take about a year, and then we’ll have a permanent home,” she said. “That’s something we’ve been looking for going forward so the Chamber can say they have a permanent home.”
The Chamber’s offices have bounced around the city quite a bit in the last 10-15 years.
Prior to Warner’s first time as Chamber president, the Chamber had an office along Dakota Avenue before moving to the Tri-State building, occupying the location now being used by Unity In Action.
In 2014, the Chamber again moved its offices, this time on the south side of the I-129 expressway to the Cottonwood Inn, where it stayed until early in 2024 when it moved to its most recent location just off the corner of 21st and Dakota Avenue.
Warner said the temporary location in the South Ridge Plaza is a more visible location for the Chamber and allows them to save money for the new building construction.
“We moved to this location just to downsize and help put those resources toward the new building,” she said.
Warner said they got help in moving to the new office from Action Moving, a Chamber member that provided the manpower.
“It took about 3 1/2 hours,” she said. “Our staff got things ready to go and they came in and did the heavy lifting for us.
Now that they are settled into their new temporary space,
Warner said the Chamber is turning its attention to a busy month of activities that includes its annual golf outing in two weeks and a business awards luncheon on Sept. 25.
“We’re looking forward to a busy month,” she said.
