As Gits Manufacturing wraps up operations in Creston, Fansteel Wellman Dynamics is taking over its space.
As of March, Wellman Dynamics corporate team began subleasing a portion of the Gits building, 1739 Commerce Road.
Tony Harris, corporate vice president of human resources and administration at Fansteel Wellman Dynamics, said the move is allowing his staff to have additional office and storage space for Wellman’s accounting and administrator groups.
Despite the additional space, no new jobs will be added for now.
“We were crowded,” Harris said. “ We just didn’t have enough adequate office space.”
Harris said working with Gits Manufacturing through the process has been a great experience and opportunity. Currently, the building — “campus west” — is shared by administrators of both companies until the final Gits administrators relocate to their office to Urbandale.
Wellman Dynamics — producer of highly complex precision aluminum and magnesium sand castings for the military and commercial aerospace industry — films the production of their castings for quality purposes and stores decades of film in an air-conditioned facility in Lorimor. Because of the additional space Wellmans has acquired in Creston, the film will be relocated.
“This is our corporate home for all our locations here in Creston,” Harris said. “We are trying to keep everything closer to Creston.”
Harris also said Wellmans is looking to sublease space for the storage of dry goods.
“We are paying the lease and have additional space,” Harris said. “As long as it’s the right item and tenant that comes along.”
Harris and the administrators at Wellmans want to be good stewards of the space they are leasing from Gits. Wellmans even offered to keep and maintain the Vietnam Memorial statue that was paid for by Gits employees that once stood on the facility’s lawn.
“The statue was donated to the city by the Gits employees,” said John Kawa, McKinley Park boardmember.
Kawa said now that the statue has been placed in the park, a bronze dedication plaque will be added at its base this year.