TJN Seeks to Add Scrap Metal Facility in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Scrap metal recycler looks to add 25-acre scrap yard in city.

TJN Enterprises, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based scrap metal recycling company, is seeking to add a second scrap metal recycling facility in that city. The company will be going before the city’s Planning Commission to request a conditional use permit for the planned yard.

TJN is seeking to open its second plant in Sioux Falls at the site of a former stockyard. According to David Bernstein, a spokesman for TJN, the company would like to acquire 25 acres, or roughly two-thirds, of the stockyard. The facility would be used for ferrous and nonferrous processing.
Presently, the company operates a 4-acre spot within the city, which has been its home for more than 20 years.
The company has been working with the city of Sioux Falls for the past several years to find a site that will accommodate TJN’s growth and that also features rail access and proximity to major highways.
The site in question is large enough to meet the company’s needs, is zoned properly and has a rail spur, though Bernstein says the rail spur would need to be updated.
He says the company would put up fencing as a sound and sight barrier and would pave a significant portion of the land at the site. The company also would install a stormwater management system, Bernstein adds.
The city’s planning commission originally had scheduled a hearing for Aug. 4. Bernstein says TJN has opted to delay the hearing in front of the city’s Planning Commission to ensure that all parties had all the information needed to make an informed decision.
According to one report, planning officials have tentatively endorsed the plan, pending TJN's ability to provide proof that that the company could adequately mitigate noise and visual concerns at the site.
"Sioux Falls has a big shortage of industrial land with rail access," Bernstein says. "I think there's a strong interest in the area to redevelop that land from its use as a former stockyard to something different. It seems like a very good match."
TJN Enterprises is a joint venture between Shine Bros. Corp., Spencer, Iowa, and Sioux City Compressed Steel, Sioux City. Besides the Sioux Falls operation, TJN has facilities in the South Dakota cities of Watertown, Yankton and Aberdeen as well as in Estherville, Iowa, and Worthington, Minn.