Rapid City is gaining a new source of economic growth with the addition of an industrial park south of town.
Dream Design International Inc., a local development firm, is hosting a groundbreaking event at 4 p.m. MST on Tuesday, Sept. 6 for the Black Hills Industrial Center.
"It's a chance to celebrate a milestone in economic development in South Dakota and Rapid City, but it’s also a historic moment because we don’t have anything like this in western South Dakota,” said Kelsey Pritchard, director of communications and marketing for Dream Design International.
The industrial center is meant to diversify the economy in Rapid City and provide more high paying manufacturing jobs.
“You know, we have a robust, booming tourism sector, a robust, booming agricultural sector,” Pritchard said. “It’s really to add to the manufacturing scene here in Rapid City.”
The proposed plan will cover over 700 acres. One company, AEsir Technologies, has already committed to a space in the new industrial park. AEsir Technologies is based out of Missouri and makes Nickel-Zinc batteries.
Pritchard says the additional jobs through the Black Hills Industrial Center will not only benefit the city, but those who live and work in it.
“Just more higher paying jobs so that when we have hard economic times, and we have inflation and those things or the cost of gas is really high all of a sudden, more people are just able to make ends meet and provide for themselves and their families on a more consistent basis here in Rapid City,” she said.
Dream Design International specializes in real estate development, land planning, surveying and engineering, property management and other developmental projects in the Black Hills. Some of its other upcoming projects include a new recreational facility in Box Elder for military personnel, workforce housing in Spearfish and a new building to house state agencies in Rapid City.
