April 17, 2023

The city of Sioux Falls and its partners in planning a future Riverline District have until the second half of 2024 to exercise options to buy approximately 10 acres east of downtown.

That and other updates on the concept were presented Monday ahead of the mayor’s annual State of the City address.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in securing this land, but what we have to now do is dream about what this could be,” TenHaken said.

The Sioux Falls Development Foundation has the option to buy the land at 10th Street and Franklin Avenue. Eleven banks have come forward so far to each fund $10,000 toward the $200,000 estimated cost of an economic impact study on the area.

“We dream big, and we have really good public partnerships to make those dreams a reality, and the Riverline District is no exception to that,” said Lynne Keller Forbes, one of the co-chairs of the committee overseeing the plan.

The group also shared results of a public survey that drew nearly 1,600 responses and more than 700 comments on an interactive map.

The overriding themes: “They want to see mixed use,” TenHaken said. “They want to see a district.”

The No. 1 mentioned word in the comments — “stadium” — drew strong reactions across the spectrum, he said.

“The thought of putting a stadium at the Riverline District is being met with the hottest of hots and the coldest of colds,” TenHaken said, calling it a “polarizing topic” that the group is looking at “very closely.”

There have been meetings with a variety of related organizations, Forbes said.

“We met with soccer, we met with the Canaries, we met with Parks and Recreation, we met with (Experience Sioux Falls),” she said. “The cake is not baked.”

A stadium is “not cheap … and we do want to make sure we have an ROI on that,” she said, adding the priority is to focus on a plan for acquiring the land.

“It’s not very often that you have the ability to put 9 acres contiguous to your downtown under contract. … We realize the responsibility we have to make the most out of that property.”

When asked what amenities they wanted to see at the Riverline District, here’s how the 1,578 survey respondents answered:

• Restaurants and bars: 1,081
• Sports stadium: 853
• Park and open space: 814
• Outdoor event space: 719
• Shopping: 620
• Indoor sports rec-plex: 436
• Housing: 3
• Parking : 2

Ironically, one in 10 comments on the interactive map mentioned the need for parking to support the development.

Other comments involved concerns about gentrification, affordable housing and continuing to maintain social services, TenHaken said.

“There’s no housing being relocated, there’s no organization being relocated, it’s land that’s available,” TenHaken said. We don’t have to tear down houses or demo anything.”

While one of the properties includes offices for the state of South Dakota, those services will be relocating anyway, he noted.

What’s next 

The coming months will bring neighborhood meetings and additional opportunities for public input. The economic impact study is scheduled to be done by the end of the year.

Jodi’s Journal: In Riverline District reality check, opportunities emerge