Dec. 1, 2023

For the third year in a row, building activity in Sioux Falls has surged past $1 billion.

Permits through November totaled $1.056 billion. That’s still a far cry from last year’s $1.84 billion through the same time, but it’s ahead of $1.015 billion in 2021.

New commercial construction at $575.1 million is about half of last year’s $1.1 billion, but up from $408.1 million in 2021.

Commercial additions and remodeling projects are at $210.1 million, behind both $331.8 million in 2022 and $250.1 million in 2021.

Significantly, this year the city has had only 17 projects valued at $10 million or more, compared with about 40 last year.

“That’s a big difference,” chief building official Butch Warrington said.

“We’re doing a ton of apartments. We did the Sanford Virtual Care Center, but other than that, it’s just a little hit and miss. … Last year everything was Sioux Steel and Cherapa, and we’re not getting those big projects downtown this year because they were all issued last year.”

New residential construction totaled $176.4 million, behind $237.2 million last year and $289.7 million in 2021. That represents 403 new single-family homes, which is 230 fewer than last year and about half of the 819 homes permitted in 2021.

“I think everybody that wants to be busy is busy, but they’re not building spec homes. They’re building them more on demand,” Warrington said.

Multifamily housing units totaled 1,823, compared with 3,255 last year and 1,739 two years ago.

“I was surprised we had as many apartments this year as we did because of the number we issued before,” Warrington said. “My guess would be those numbers of apartments will drop off again next year more in line with how houses have dropped off; however, if you drop off apartments, does that mean residential is going to come up a little bit?

Two apartment projects were among the highest-valuation permits issued in November: $21.3 million for another five-story building at Spring Creek near Cliff Avenue and 77th Street and $12.4 million for another phase with seven 16-unit buildings at The Boundary along Marion Road near Maple Street.

As for how the year could wrap up, “December is one of those months that we never know what to expect,” Warrington said.

“We still have a fair amount in the queue for footing and foundations … and I have seven plans for review, but there’s nothing big. The biggest one is $2 million all the way down to $100,000, so there’s nothing big there. We just have a lot of nice-sized projects this year.”

Looking ahead to next year, Warrington expects the state of South Dakota’s one-stop office building will be a sizable permit, there’s a chance for some activity in health care and at Foundation Park, but “it’s too hard to tell,” he said. “I never know what’s coming in.”

Here’s an interactive look at all major projects permitted so far this year: