Photo by Deb Gau Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson and Mayor Bob Byrnes deliver the annual State of the City address on Wednesday.

MARSHALL — The city of Marshall saw some growth over the past year, especially in commercial developments, Mayor Bob Byrnes said.

The building permits the city issued in 2024 had a total valuation of over $36 million — the highest they’ve been in 10 years, Byrnes said.

“Most of that is commercial building activity, but there is good activity in the community,” Byrnes said.

Updates on construction and development in Marshall were part of Wednesday’s State of the City Address. Byrnes and Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said one new development was a second tenant in the former Shopko building in Marshall.

“Marshall’s is scheduled to open on April 24. We’re very excited about that. I think the community is looking forward to that opening,” Byrnes said.

Hanson added that the building owners and the Marshall Economic Development Authority were actively looking for a third tenant to fill out the former Shopko building.

The area near the former Shopko has been a busy one for new developments, Byrnes said. Other projects underway include the construction of a Les Schwab Tire at the former Quist Moving and Storage location. Les Schwab Tire will open March 26.

“We’re happy to have them be part of our business community as well,” Hanson said.

Housing construction has also begun near the former Shopko location. Byrnes shared a conceptual drawing for Stone Meadows, a new market rate apartment complex. Stone Meadows will have a total of three apartment buildings, each with 36 units, he said.

“They have done the footings on the first building,” Byrnes said. “They did the site work this past fall, just before freeze-up.”

“We continue to strive toward additional housing in Marshall,” Hanson said.

Industrial projects also got started in Marshall in 2024. Byrnes gave an update on Solugen, the company planning to build a chemical plant near the Archer Daniels Midland corn plant in Marshall. Solugen wants to use dextrose, a sugar produced by the corn plant, as the building block to make an alternative to petroleum products.

“They did their site work this past year. Now they’re in kind of a pause period,” Byrnes said. “It’s scheduled to be in production in, I believe, 2027.”

He shared a video update from Solugen spokesperson Bryan Soukup.

“We are still committed to the original size and scope (of the project),” Soukup said. “We are looking at a 500,000 square-foot facility, on 34 acres adjacent to ADM.” He said the project would still create 100 temporary construction jobs and 50 full-time manufacturing jobs.

Marshall demographics

Byrnes and Hanson covered a wide range of topics in their address, including demographic data for Marshall. The city has a growing and relatively young population, they said. The median age of Marshall residents is about 33, according to the 2020 census.

“I know SMSU really helps with that, but when you compare with other regional cities, we’re really leading in that category,” Hanson said.

Marshall also has a diverse population, Hanson said. About 21% of Marshall’s residents are not white.

Byrnes said the U.S. Census Bureau acknowledged last year that its census count for Marshall was incorrect.

“Our new population number is 13,906. We think that’s still an undercount because it really only factored in that population that wasn’t counted in university housing,” Byrnes said.

SMSU has been going strong in the past year, Hanson said.

“The degree-seeking students rose 14% over the previous year. That’s the highest increase, I believe, in about 10 years. So it’s very, very impressive,” she said. The university has also worked to develop programs for nursing and social work degrees, which Hanson said were important for the local labor force.

Byrnes said another key indicator for Marshall was its bond rating.

“We have a AA bond rating by Standard and Poor’s, which is really the highest financial rating that is really possible for a city that’s our size,” he said. “So that’s good financially, where we’re at.”

Marshall currently has 15 companies with more than 100 employees, Byrnes said.

City projects

The city of Marshall also had a number of active projects in 2024. One was the construction of a new building for snow removal equipment at the Marshall airport. Having a dedicated storage building for that equipment would free up airport hangar space that should be available for private rental, Byrnes said.

“It’s about 80% state and federal funding,” he said of the project.

Over the past year, the city also re-paved public parking lots at Independence Park and in the downtown parking lot across from the Marshall 6 movie theater.

“I know this may not seem like a large item, but it’s actually one of the things we get complimented the most on,” Hanson said. The “movie theater” parking lot was in poor condition and posed a challenge for businesses, she said. Reconstructing the parking lot improved safety for pedestrians as well.

Byrnes said the city also started updates to the Legion Field baseball field and dugouts. The condition of the dugouts was making it hard to attract teams to play at the field.

“We know Legion Field is really the gem of small-town baseball, and we really want to keep that up,” he said.