SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
It's a milestone, years in the making.
Sabre Industries is the first business open a building in the Southbridge Industrial Park. Even though the company's been in Sioux City since the 1970s, it needed more room.
"We needed to be able to prove to our big customers that we have redundancy within our company," said Peter Sandore, president and CEO of Sabre Industries, Inc. .
It found 150 acres south of Sioux Gateway Airport. Besides room to grow, Sabre received incentives from the city through the Targeted Jobs tax program. It's a combination Sioux City leaders say is a win-win for the community.
"We are focused on industries like Sabre because we believe America can and should build things, and this can happen right here in Iowa," said Dougherty.
Workers will build utility poles and towers for the wireless industry. By staying in town, Sabre will create more than 100 new jobs. They've hired more than half already.
"We're probably about 60 percent full, we probably have another 40 percent to go. Like, these two bays that you see here will be equipped and probably up and running by April," said Sandore.
A community college partnership is helping get workers trained.
"Western Iowa Tech's done a tremendous job of helping them find the welders and the skilled people they need, but it's also engineers, and draftsmen, and management folks," said Dougherty.
Jobs, Dougherty says, can lure other businesses to town.
"When you have good paying jobs in your community, it means that those people will be able to have more disposable income, they'll be able to buy housing. They'll spend money in our stores and restaurants," said Dougherty.
The trickle effect, Dougherty hopes comes from the first business at Southbridge.
Sabre Industries cut the ribbon on its new 192,000 square foot facility.
