July 12, 2022

The city’s under-developed downtown parking ramp will be getting a temporary face-lift and other improvements while the city works toward soliciting interest in future development partnerships.

The ramp along 10th Street east of Phillips Avenue is operating, but a private development alongside it never materialized.

The city of Sioux Falls and Village River Group, which at one point planned to co-develop a parking ramp downtown that would have included a hotel, agreed to a $500,000 settlement earlier this year after the project never came together.

The city terminated the development agreement in 2019 after what officials said involved multiple defaults on the part of the developers.

The city will be responding to questions from the industry in anticipation of formally soliciting interest in a new partnership this fall, said Erica Beck, chief of staff.

“Including better understanding how the structure was built and any intricacies they need to be aware of,” she said, adding the city will continue to meet with the public parking board and City Council to answer questions and solicit feedback.

“I do think it’s exceptionally critical that when we solicit interest again we are all on the same page and we are all confident in what our expectations are,” she said.

The development community is seeking that in considering a partnership with the city, she added.

Improvements that were made to the site allow for up to a 15-story building to be built there.

The Village on the River proposal originally involved two hotels, an AC by Marriott and an extended-stay Residence Inn, but it was scaled back to just the AC. It also included space for office, retail and event uses.

Meetings will be held later this month and in mid-September to gauge what elected officials are looking for in the development and what they’re hearing the public would like to see or if there are concerns, Beck said. That will include discussing an appraisal and the market study being done as part of the next long-term downtown plan.

In the meantime, there will be short-term temporary improvements to the site starting yet this summer, responding to requests from the public, including to beautify the facade and to control dust and dirt around the structure.

“We’d like to activate this area,” public works director Mark Cotter said.

That includes a temporary mural on the facade and installing a plaza for walking, sitting, informal games and small performances.

“We would do this through softening the landscape,” Cotter said. “Today there’s concrete footings backfilled with sand; there’s some building utilities within that. ”

Mammoth Sports Construction is willing to gift and install field turf, he added.

“We would buffer the activated space with some streetscape elements … for example, flower planters that Parks has in their 49th Street shop, concrete planters that local artists could actually paint … and then furnish the space with some painted wire spools, more opportunities for local artists to kind of jazz up this space.”

“As we work through a couple of options with Mammoth Sports, as they contemplated a gift of the turf, one thing that would work best for them is if the entire site was paved with  temporary asphalt surface,” he said. “So our street team is working closely with the parks team to make sure we can make that happen.”

Ideas were put together with the parks department in collaboration with the Sioux Falls Art Council.

Food trucks could park along 10th Street to further activate the area, Cotter said.

The next steps include engaging additional sponsors and local artists, he said.

It’s not unheard to anticipate a permanent development could start on the site next fall, but it depends on marketing conditions and finding the right partnership, Beck said.

“It’s just really hard to say,” she said.