News

Sandhills Publishing Announces Construction Of Additional Office Building On Lincoln, Nebraska Campus Following Recent Completion Of New IT Facility

Sandhills will soon break ground on a new facility on its 68-acre global headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska. The announcement comes on the heels of a recently constructed IT facility, completed in October. The new 42,000-square-foot building, called the Cyber Center, will house 240 employee workstations, a reception area and café space, as well as classrooms and other training facilities. The new addition is part of a larger trend of sustainable, companywide growth for Sandhills.

Ongoing investments in hosted cloud-based technology services and growing international exposure have led Sandhills to introduce a number of additional products and services to an already-expansive suite of platform-agnostic mobile business solutions. With the backing of the biggest names in the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries, Sandhills has recently launched a number of new websites and mobile apps. Among them are RentalYard (a publication and website that connects rental and leasing companies with contractors and end users seeking rental equipment), Fast Track Iron (a wholesale dealer network), and FleetEvaluator.com (a website that provides contractors, owner operators, farmers, and others with equipment valuations based on real-time market data). Sandhills has also expanded the scope of its services to help buyers and sellers facilitate financing through NeedALender.com, and transport equipment after the sale with NeedAHauler.com.

At the same time, AuctionTime.com (Sandhills’ online auction platform) continues to experience record growth with more buyers, sellers, and bidders participating in weekly online auctions than ever before. In fact, AuctionTime will move over 10,000 assets in the month of December alone. While the platform has long been used by buyers all over the world to move equipment, it has recently opened up to international sellers—a move that has already extended auctions across multiple days to accommodate the influx of equipment listings from sellers all over the world.

With the growth of these products, Sandhills has seen a steady rise in demand among major industry players including original equipment manufacturers, market leaders, and large dealer conglomerates. Coupled with ongoing international expansion initiatives and a number of additional products on the horizon, this growth has generated a need for additional office space. In October, the company finished construction on and opened a new IT facility, quickly filling an additional 122 employee workstations. Meanwhile, construction continues on the company’s on-site production building, which is expanding to accommodate new press and bindery infrastructure. The installation of a new Goss Pacesetter 2200 Saddlestitcher (beginning in March) and a Goss Sunday 2000 printing press (beginning in May) will nearly double the facility’s output capacity. The renovation is expected to be finished in June.

As for the Cyber Center, “the main square footage for this building will be designated as office space for our sales representatives for AuctionTime, RentalYard, NeedAHauler.com, NeedALender.com, and FleetEvaluator.com,” explains Sandhills’ Chief Administration Officer Nancy Paasch. “Due to the large amount of growth we are expecting in the next few years, we will quickly need additional office space. Our human resources staff will also have space in the new building for increased recruitment efforts to keep staffing numbers in line with forecasted growth,” she adds.

Facility Design & Features
Lincoln-based Sinclair Hille Architects (www.SinclairHille.com) and Sampson Construction (www.Sampson-Construction.com) are behind the design of the new building. Constructed largely of recycled and reclaimed materials, the facility will be gold certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program (www.usgbc.org/leed). The design incorporates state-of-the-art technologies that increase water and energy efficiencies through the use of solar panels, light harvesting sensors, and motion sensors that control plumbing and electricity. The new facility will also feature one of the most advanced heating and cooling system designs in the world: a closed-loop, geothermal well field confirmed by the EPA to operate at greater efficiency than oil furnaces, gas furnaces, and air source heat pumps.

Adjacent to Sandhills’ Data Center and the recently constructed Binary Building, the Cyber Center will be the third LEED certified facility on the campus, and signals the company’s continued commitment to investing in technologies and facilities that reduce its carbon footprint. “It is important to Sandhills to continue to practice environmental stewardship,” explains Nancy. “Being efficient with the resources we use supports a better environment for the community today, as well as in the future.”

Sandhills will also continue to invest in its highly regarded internship program, which focuses on providing students hands-on experience in a collaborative and team-focused environment. Human resources staff will continue to fill positions in database and software development, sales, marketing, design, journalism, and human resources. For more information about internship and career opportunities at Sandhills, visit www.Sandhills.com/Careers, and follow Sandhills Publishing on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for future updates on campus expansion.