Aug. 28, 2024

Urban Air, the world’s largest indoor adventure park, is opening a Sioux Falls location.

While attractions vary by location, Urban Air parks typically have more than 20 interactive activities for all ages, including trampolines, laser tag, bumper cars and climbing walls.

The indoor park plans to open in the retail center off 41st Street between Grange and West avenues in the space that used to be Hobby Lobby.

“This is the largest indoor entertainment option that Sioux Falls has seen,” said Ryan Tysdal, vice president of commercial real estate at Van Buskirk Cos. “It’s a totally new offering we’ve never had in Sioux Falls.”

He has had the 52,000-square-foot space listed since before 2020.

While the pandemic slowed leasing, “that changed drastically over the last 24 months,” he said. “We’ve had numerous parties look at the space. We’ve had offers from furniture to entertainment to home improvement to grocery, and ultimately the entertainment concept was a great fit, and we’re excited to bring a new concept to Sioux Falls.”

Urban Air will bring a level of indoor entertainment not seen in the city before, he added.

“The landlord selected Urban Air because of the strength of the concept,” Tysdal said. “We felt like it was the strongest one out there.”

Urban Air is designed mainly for age 7 and older, although there’s an area designated for younger kids.

Attractions include an Adventure Hub, featuring a ropes course, tubes playground and the Urban Air Sky Rider, a zip line-like experience.

The Leap of Faith straps players in a harness while they climb to the top of a platform to take a big leap and grab onto a hanging cylinder or monkey bars.

There’s also dodgeball, a Battle Beam and a Warrior course.

Earlier this year, Urban Air announced that it was adding air adventure slides in several of its parks.

Every park also includes a fast-casual cafe and several party rooms.

Urban Air was founded in 2011 and has more than 350 locations open or in development.

This year, Urban Air was ranked as the No. 1 entertainment franchise in Entrepreneur’s annual Franchise 500 list for the sixth consecutive year.

Initial construction is underway to prepare the Sioux Falls space for build-out. An opening timeline hasn’t been announced, but Tysdal estimates that it could be in the first half of next year.

“I think historically Sioux Falls has had limited options for year-round recreation or facilities, and this somewhat helps fill that void,” he said. “You just can’t build new construction for these concepts. For the economics to work, it has to be existing space. The central location was really attractive — you can get to it equally conveniently from all parts of town — and it has strong co-tenancy.”

The deal leaves 34,000 square feet remaining in the 41st Street retail center. The space, where Fareway was located, essentially is the last vacant big-box space in the area other than the former Sears, Tysdal said.

“We’re currently in talks with several different retailers, both local and national,” he said.