April 11, 2024

Chuck E. Cheese had barely served its final pizza when interested new users started lining up.

“We’ve had significant interest right out of the gate,” said Scott Blount, a commercial real estate broker at Lloyd Cos. who has the space listed for lease.

The 12,000-square-foot building at 2600 S. Louise Ave. is one of multiple vacancies along the Meadows on the River retail corridor.

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest because it’s such a heavily trafficked area and a great retail corridor,” Blount said.

That stretch of Louise Avenue draws more than 27,000 vehicles a day. Nearby 41st Street adds more than 35,000 daily vehicles.

Before the pandemic, the local Chuck E. Cheese was among the top-performing locations in the company, Blount said.

“Sales just never recovered,” he said. “It’s a great site, and they were a tenant over 20 years, so we appreciate the relationship. It’s just been such a good long-term tenant that we’re now looking at a lot of options. When you have 12,000 square feet in such a prominent retail corridor, it opens up a lot of possibilities.”

But the size also has its limitations — it’s too small for some national tenants, and others are more interested if the space can be subdivided.

It’s a similar situation for a 2,800-square-foot former wireless store next to Pearle Vision at 2422 S. Louise Ave.

“It’s just a unique size,” said Raquel Blount of Lloyd Cos., who has it listed. “But it’s got great exposure, good parking. It just gets you in that preferred zone of where retail wants to be.”

She also has a 5,000-square-foot space available next to Aldi on Louise Avenue, which requires a full build-out.

While there are multiple vacancies on Louise Avenue, its effectiveness as a retail corridor remains, she said.

“I don’t think it (interest) has gone down. I really don’t,” she said. “You still have Sam’s (Club) and Walmart and all the restaurants and movie theaters.”

One of the next spaces to be filled along the corridor will be at 2520 S. Louise Ave., where Roy Nielsen bought both that building and the adjacent former TCF Bank building, which his business currently is using as an office.

Roy’zzz of Sioux Falls opened in the former Puerto Vallarta space this week, marketing itself as a “premium cannabis dispensary built for the active South Dakota lifestyle.” There’s also a location in Yankton.

“It’s very nice inside, a very high-end build,” said Ryan Ammann of NAI Sioux Falls, who brokered the building deal.

The dispensary takes about half the building. The other half “is not on the market at this point,” Ammann said. “He really wanted to get his own operation open before considering what to do with the south part.”