Talking Business: IGT sells its Sodak building

By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, October 27, 2006

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While the auction of the once-future Wal-Mart site was getting all the attention on U.S. Highway 16 south of Rapid City, another real-estate deal passed much more quietly.

The Sodak Gaming building across the road was sold Sept. 29 to a commercial real-estate arm of General Electric. The seller was International Game Technology, the Reno, Nev., company that acquired Sodak in 1999.

Ed Rogish, spokesman for IGT in Reno, confirmed that the company sold the Sodak building. “We had a business opportunity to sell the building, and we had more space than we needed,” he said.

Realtor Sandra Runde of Prudential Kahler Realtors handled the sale. She said the buyer, GE Commercial Finance, acquired the property as an investment.

She said the building has two solid tenants, National American University and IGT. Some company executives and technicians continue to work out of the Rapid City office.

The sale is not a big surprise. In recent years, as IGT incorporated its Sodak division into its Reno operations, the space requirements in Rapid City have dwindled.

Sodak Gaming remains one of Rapid City’s great 1990s success stories. Entrepreneur Mike Wordeman started Sodak Gaming Supplies in 1989. It sold IGT-manufactured slot machines and other gambling gear to Deadwood and to the burgeoning Indian gambling market nationwide.

After the company went public in 1993, Sodak outgrew its Omaha Street strip mall pretty quickly. In 1995, the company moved into its sprawling hilltop office and warehouse complex.

Four years later, however, IGT acquired Sodak outright in a cash deal worth $230 million.

Fjord’s jumps big hurdle

OK, readers, take a bow.

In September, I told you that Laurie Durr and Sylvia Midzak, owners of Fjord’s Ice Cream & Coffee Shop, had a serious problem.

Their plan to build a brand new Fjord’s at 3825 Canyon Lake Drive in Rapid City had come unraveled when the construction bids came in much higher than they thought they would be.

Meanwhile, their lease was set to expire on their existing location at the end of February.

This week, I got a very nice letter from them.

“Due to your article, we were contacted by many of your readers about possible solutions to our dilemma,” they wrote. “One reader gave us the name of a construction contractor who we have since hired to build our building at 38th and Canyon Lake Drive.”

They had to scale back their plans, but work has already started on the new building. They hope to meet their goal of opening in the new store by March 1.

Book Nook owner has been around

Jerry DeYoe is a rolling stone.

He grew up in Belle Fourche, but he hasn’t lived there since 1963.

He owned a book store in Nevada. He had a record store in South Carolina. In the 1970s and ‘80s, he traveled the country, buying and selling vinyl records at collectible shows. More recently, he has been living in Kansas.

“I figured it was time to come back and spend some time with my mama,” DeYoe said.

He now lives in Rapid City. On Oct. 6, he opened the Book Nook, a retail shop in Northgate Plaza at Cambell and East North streets. But like DeYoe, there’s a lot more to the Book Nook than Books.

The shop sells new and used books. It sells new magazines and old comic books. Other wares include old phonograph records, baseball cards, collectible glassware, antiques and items for children.

“We were sitting in Dodge City, Kan., paying storage on three different storage places,” he said.

Hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, call 721-2665.

Chinese restaurant on Disk Drive?

As work continues on the GrandStay Residential Suites across Disk Drive from Kohl’s, it looks as if the motel will have a next-door neighbor some time soon.

Kevin Conway, who is developing the land along Disk Drive west of Haines Avenue, told me this week he has reached a deal to sell a parcel of land east of GrandStay.

The buyer, he said, owns a Chinese restaurant in Rapid City. I hope to have more details soon.

“We have accepted the offer,” Conway said. “Details are being worked out.”

Meanwhile, I see work is getting under way just west of Kohl’s. That’s the spot where a new strip center featuring a PetSmart store is going in, according to building permit records.

One last barb for the low-carb guru

In Black Hills Bagels the other day, I saw a book for sale that caught my eye. The title: “Atkins is Dead, Pass the Bread.”

I had to chuckle — and cringe — at the title. Dr. Robert Atkins, the founder of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate (no bread) Atkins Diet, did in fact die in 2003.

Corrections

I need to correct a couple of items from last week’s column. First, Kona Kaffe, in the Circle S Plaza at 402 E. Fairmont Blvd., opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays, not 7 a.m. And the sixth Black Hills Family Dollar Store is in Newcastle, Wyo., not Spearfish.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone (394-8421), by fax (394-8463) or by e-mail at dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com