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Cedar American Rail Holdings Inc. — holding company to Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. (DM&E), and Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad (owner of I&M Rail Link, which DM&E acquired in February) — May 21 announced plans to establish its headquarters in an IBM building the company is purchasing in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The headquarters initially would house 100 employees, but Cedar American officials expect that number to reach several hundred after DM&E's Powder River Basin (PRB) project is completed in about three years.
DM&E plans to retain its Brookings, S.D., headquarters, but with fewer employees. The number of workers in each office will be based on employee preference, said Cedar American and DM&E President Kevin Schieffer in a prepared statement.
"As our company grows, the Sioux Falls office provides a strong anchor for our South Dakota corporate presence long term," he said, adding that the company prefers to remain in South Dakota, in contrast to some industry analysts who predicted Cedar American would move out of state, possibly to Chicago.
Cedar American currently is soliciting applications for accountants, human-resource personnel, secretaries, customer-service representatives and other positions in Sioux Falls.
The company in the future expects to employ the majority of its workers in Huron, S.D., where the company plans to operate an expanded mechanical operations center — including a larger yard, and locomotive and rail-car maintenance and repair facilities — as part of the PRB project.