South Dakota's 'largest building' sold to investment firm

There is a new owner of the old Gateway Computer campus in southern South Dakota, an expansive warehouse painted like a Holstein.

Keating Resources, a real estate investment firm with offices in Nebraska and Florida, bought the 77-acre site—along with the 750,000-square-foot building—Wednesday from computer maker Acer Inc.

The $5.75 million price tag is a fraction of the estimated $70 million Gateway spent during an eight-year construction period before the tech company was acquired by Taiwan-based Acer.

"I’m very excited to invest in the Sioux City metro market," owner Gerald Keating said Thursday. "It's one of the strongest in the United States and for me, it's especially rewarding to come back to an area where I grew up.” 

The news release from Keating's company claims the old Gateway warehouse is the "largest building in South Dakota."

Keating has already sold the southern part of the building to a local investor and has a long-term lease pending for a small chunk of the remaining space.

"Starting today, we're marketing the vacant space to logistics companies that want a Midwest location," Keating said.

Keating said he is planning a number of different redesign options for the building, including repainting the warehouse in 2018 with the black-and-white cow pattern. He plans to brand the facility as the Gateway Business Center.

Sioux City native Ted Waitt founded Gateway when he was 22 years old, retiring from the company in 2004. The South Dakota site once employed about 6,000 people, according to Keating.

Keating, who grew up in Atkinson, Nebraska, views the investment as a chance to be closer to his hometown.

"It's one more reason to come back to an area that I love and to work with people that I love," he said.