Jan. 21—WANAMINGO — A Wanamingo manufacturer recently expanded its capacity and national presence by buying its main competitor in the cast architectural stone industry.

Marcstone

acquired Kansas-based Continental Cast Stone, its largest national competitor, in late 2022.

"It's our goal to revive what Continental used to be, bring it back to its original glory, but with the name and values of Marcstone," stated Marcstone Founder Drew Doffing in the announcement of the deal.

Family-owned Marcstone, which makes high-end, custom architectural stone, employs a team of 25 workers at its Wanamingo facility. The purchase of Continental Cast adds to Marcstone's intellectual property as well as its equipment portfolio.

Marcstone's clientele includes the U.S. Air Force, Texas A&M University, the University of Minnesota, Aldi, Walmart, numerous state governments, hospitals, churches, retail centers, and buildings across the United States.

"To facilitate this expansion, Marcstone has doubled the size of our production facility in Minnesota and will likely increase the size of our local production force by 30% to 40% over the next three to five years," said Marcstone Marketing Director Paul Doffing.

Marcstone produces more than 3,500 tons or around 39,000 individual pieces of cast stone per year. That adds to more than 250 commercial buildings across the country using Marcstone products.

Doffing estimated that as Continental Cast's demand is shifted to Minnesota, that number may rise as high as 14,500 tons, or 136,000 parts annually.

"Continental was always a major competitor and somebody that we really aspired to be," stated Elyce Doffing, who handles sales and project management at Marcstone. "We looked up to them, we looked up to their processes, we looked up to the volume of stone they were outputting each day. It's a pretty incredible feat to say we now have acquired that business, and they no longer exist."

This acquisition is Marcstone's second major acquisition in the past 12 years. It also acquired Northern Precast in 2010.