Lloyd Companies Grows Reach In Sioux City Through Management Of Adaptive Reuse Affordable Housing Projects

Sioux City’s Central Annex sits adjacent to the community’s historic high school, known as the Castle on the Hill.

Built in 1952, it served as a complementary building to the high school where industrial arts, physical education and swimming were taught.

The school closed in 1972, and decades later Iowa-based Arch Icon Development pursued an adaptive reuse, converting it into The Aberdeen — a 46-unit affordable apartment community completed in 2018.
A year later, the developer completed another similar project, converting the former Everett Elementary School into 20 affordable apartments.
But Arch Icon wasn’t done yet.

“We developed The Asher on property that originally was the playground area of the Everett school,” president Darin Smith said.

“It is affordable housing serving low-to-moderate-income families who make at or below 60% of the Area Median Income and includes three apartments for people experiencing homelessness funded with a contribution of HOME-ARPA funding from the City of Sioux City.”

The Asher includes 30 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with a full appliance package and amenities such as a leasing office, supportive services office, video security and a playground.
Around the same time that project was under construction, Arch Icon’s property manager decided to leave the Sioux City market, and the company was introduced to Lloyd Companies.

“We connected them to the previous management company for all documentation and project info they needed to understand the property and its operation and worked with them to get them on board,” Smith said.

“We are grateful they took on our developments and the Sioux City market.”

Lloyd transitioned management of The Everett and The Aberdeen simultaneously.

“At that time, The Asher was still under construction, so we focused on the existing properties first,” Laura Walters said.

“Once construction was complete, we handled the opening and lease-up of The Asher in June 2025, which was an exciting way to round out the portfolio.”
Onboarding new properties at Lloyd always starts “with ensuring we have the right people in the right seats,” Walters continued.

For the Sioux City transition, leadership tapped a current property manager, who brought a valuable background in affordable housing from another Lloyd property.

“We knew his expertise would be the perfect anchor for this portfolio,” Walters said.

“Taking over third-party management always presents unique challenges, but our goal is to immediately implement the ‘Lloyd Way,’ a standard of excellence that ensures every resident is proud of their home.”

The first priority was creating an enhancement plan for the properties, specifically at The Aberdeen.

“Given its history as a converted high school, we focused heavily on restoring the common areas, hallways and overall curb appeal,” Walters said.
“It was a true all-hands effort; we even had team members from our Sioux Falls properties volunteer to come down and assist with maintenance and unit inspections to ensure we hit our standards on day one.”

By the time The Asher was ready to lease, the Lloyd team was becoming known in the area for strong property management — and it showed.

“Things are going incredibly well. We’ve seen a tremendous response from the Sioux City community,” Walters said.

“In fact, we completed the lease-up for The Asher and reached 100% occupancy by the end of December. It’s a great feeling to see a new community fill up that quickly.”

But beyond the numbers, these three properties have been a seamless addition to the Lloyd portfolio, she said.

“They really round out our offerings in the area. By having a mix of unique historic conversions and brand-new construction, we truly have a high-quality housing option for anyone in Sioux City looking for a new home, regardless of their style or needs,” Walters said.

From Arch Icon’s perspective, “having Lloyd in place has been wonderful,” Smith said.

“They have built a great team of professionals who obviously take great pride in the properties they manage!”