Windmill company to relocate to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — A windmill company in Keokuk County has announced it will relocate to Fairfield.

Great Plains Windmill Service, located in Kinross, will move into a building that previously housed ALCAST aluminum foundry, and Fairfield Aluminum Casting Company (FALCO) before that. The building is at 603 N. Eighth St.

According to a news release from Fairfield Economic Development Association, Great Plains Windmill Service is the largest windmill company in the nation, specializing in installation, servicing, painting, full restorations, and relocating of farm and recreational windmills. Of the several hundred installed each year, more than half are used for water, cattle operations, irrigation, wetland preservation, and pond aeration.

Phil Gehman, owner of Great Plains Windmill Service, said, “We are pleased to have chosen Fairfield to relocate and expand our business. We are a family-owned business originally founded in Kinross, Iowa, that is continuing to grow and we believe Fairfield will be a great fit to expand.”

The business is planning immediate improvements to the 118,000-square-foot facility in Fairfield, and the creation of a dozen or more “high quality jobs” within the first year.

Joshua Laraby, executive director of Fairfield Economic Development Association, said, “Phil and his team have been a pleasure to work with and will be a great fit to the community. I am pleased they have selected Fairfield. Many positives will come from this, including a temporarily vacant facility put back into production, new jobs created, and welcoming of a new business to Fairfield.”

Laraby said the previous occupant of the building, ALCAST, left town in the summer of 2021, leaving the building vacant. FEDA worked with ALCAST to find a new occupant, and in the process discovered that Great Plains Windmill Service was in the market to relocate.

Before ALCAST occupied the building, it was home to FALCO, but that business foreclosed in the summer of 2017. ALCAST purchased its assets later that year, and restarted operations as an aluminum foundry, the same type of business as FALCO.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com