Jan. 31, 2023
Downtown’s boundary could make a big push east with a proposed redevelopment along East 10th Street.
The Sioux Falls Development Foundation has two pieces of land totaling about 10 acres under contract, including the parcel currently used by the state of South Dakota for a large office and the former Stadium Court mobile home park.
If redeveloped, it essentially would extend downtown as far east as Cliff Avenue.
“It’s kind of the next big step, the next big piece. And the opportunity to be able to acquire that large of a piece of property gives you a lot of opportunity,” said Lynne Keller Forbes, CEO of the South Eastern Development Foundation and Dakota Business Finance, who is co-chairing a community group with Click Rain Inc. CEO Natalie Eisenberg.
By guiding the development of the site, the group hopes to see the area realize its “higher potential,” Eisenberg said. “Really connecting this area to downtown because it’s between Nelson Park and Fawick Park, it’s on the bike trail, it’s on the river, and it’s being underutilized.”
The area was identified in the long-range downtown planning process last year as an area that offered one of few larger sections of potentially available land.
“We have a chance to kind of restore this area of our downtown to what it was,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “It was a place for recreation, it was a place of sports activity, it was a place for community. … It’s time that we reimagine what the next opportunity for that location is.”
The city is “outgrowing what we typically think of as our downtown,” he added. “We’re about as far north as we can go to the Falls, and we’ve gone west, and now we’re looking to go east.”
Several downtown leaders hoping to optimize the site reached out to TenHaken’s office to begin a conversation about a communitywide vision for the property, Forbes said.
“You just don’t let go of opportunities like this,” she said. “Fifteen, 20 years, when we’re all gone, this still keeps going.”
Multiple community organizations contributed money to help fund the earnest money for the properties involved and cover initial costs of the community planning effort. Those include Dakota Business Finance, Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., Experience Sioux Falls, Forward Sioux Falls and the South Eastern Development Foundation.
At Tuesday’s announcement, a committee of nearly 40 members was announced, with room for more.
One key visionary has been Tom Hurlbert, principal architect at Co-op Architecture, whose firm put together some initial concepts for how the area could redevelop.
“Today is about whatever the community wants to dream up and thinks should go there,” he said. “It could include housing, business developments, and it could include opportunities for professional or amateur sports.”
That said, “others are welcome in the stakeholder group, and even with the ideas we have explored so far, we’re not set in any direction as far as what this area needs to be,” Eisenberg said. “A few of the fundamentals the group keyed into are making it a community gathering space, to activate it for all people in Sioux Falls, especially the neighborhoods right around it.”
There’s also interest in year-round potential uses, she said.
Potential stadium site
The area has been seen as a potential stadium site, looked at by both the Sioux Falls Canaries and the city’s soccer community.
“The cake is not baked,” Forbes added. “You tell us. If there is a sports stadium, what does that look like? Indoor? Outdoor? A combination?
The city also plans to do a study on the viaducts to determine what a future design for those two roads could entail.
“That might look quite a bit different,” Forbes said.
Because no definitive plan has been developed for the area, there also are no cost estimates.
Look back
The history of the area goes back to 1888 when a natural spring was discovered.
The area also is the original location of Howard Wood Field, having been owned by the Sioux Falls School District since 1916. The athletic field also was used by the Sioux Falls Canaries and local schools and colleges.
The district sold the 10-acre site to Sears Roebuck & Co. when it built the new Howard Wood, and the new Sears Shopping Center complex opened in 1961. The Drake Springs pool was built in 2010 after being home to a baseball field known as Nelson Field.
What’s next
The next steps for the Riverline group include a short survey on a new website that asks for input. Click here to take the survey.
The survey will stay up for about 60 days, and then the group plans to hire a consultant to lead the concept planning.
The current Riverline committee includes:
- Alex Jensen, Sioux Falls City Council
- Arin Gonseth, MarketBeat
- Bob Mundt, Sioux Falls Development Foundation
- Bob Sutton, Avera Health
- Brendan Reilly, Davenport Evans
- Brian Skrovig, Co-op Architecture
- Cale Feller, Avera Health
- Chris Thorkelson, Lloyd Cos.
- Curt Soehl, Sioux Falls City Council
- Cynthia Mickelson, Sioux Falls School Board
- Dan Statema, First Dakota Bank/Loft Advisors
- Erica Mullaly, Cresten Capital
- Erin Fujimoto, Tommy John
- Jeff Griffin, Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce
- Jesse Smith, Sanford Health
- Joe Batcheller, Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.
- Julie Ward, Avera Health
- Keith Severson, retired/Eide Bailly
- Kevin Tupy, Cresten Capital
- Leo Diaz, Atlas Academy
- Lynne Keller Forbes, South Eastern Council of Governments and Dakota Business Finance
- Matt Paulson, MarketBeat
- Max Sandlin, Mercury Public Affairs
- Micah Aberson, Mammoth Sports
- Mike Begeman, retired/Sanford Health
- Mike Gray, Sioux Falls Development Foundation
- Mike Lynch, Forward Sioux Falls
- Miles Beacom, Premier Bankcard
- Mayor Paul TenHaken, city of Sioux Falls
- Randy Knecht, Journey Cos.
- Reggie Kuipers, Bender Commercial Real Estate Services
- Rhonda Lockwood, Lockwood Law
- Teri Schmidt, Experience Sioux Falls
- Thomas Lee, Sioux Falls Sports Authority
- Tom Bosch, Avera Health
- Tom Hurlbert, Co-op Architecture
- Tony Nour, First Premier Bank
- Tyler Blake, Wake by Tyler Blake
- Vince Jones, Woods Fuller
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