Construction company owner who pioneered Lake Lorraine has died
April 8, 2024
Longtime construction leader Warren Friessen, whose property and vision led to the Lake Lorraine development, has died.
He was 93.
Friessen, who grew up on a farm on land that became Roosevelt High School, founded his first businesses in his 20s — Dakota Heavy Haul and Warren Friessen Excavating — before incorporating Friessen Construction Co. Inc. in August 1968.
Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, he hauled cattle, milk and manure. In 1958, he started digging basements in Penny Addition off Marion Road in west Sioux Falls, according to his obituary.
“He was a workaholic and had high expectations of his employees, some might say tough to please,” it said. “His determination and work ethic were on display during the Sioux Falls flood of 1969. Many thought it couldn’t be done, but he worked nonstop for three days to save the city wastewater treatment plant and John Morrell by reinforcing the failing levees.”
Some of the more complex projects Friessen’s company worked on included the U.S. Bank building in downtown Sioux Falls in the 1960s, Avera McKennan Hospital’s addition in the 1970s, the expansion of Marion Road in 1987, and 26th Street and Interstate 29 in 1996.
In the 1990s, he started developing 90 acres of his farmland on the north side of 26th Street for single-family homes that became Prairie Highlands and Prairie Pointe. He built his own dream home there overlooking Dunham Park, where he had farmed and pastured his cattle since the 1970s.
“His proudest project was Lake Lorraine in Sioux Falls, taking 20 years to acquire the 130 acres and digging the 30-acre spring-fed lake. It went through three iterations of possible designs and concepts – dreaming of what it should and could be,” the obituary said.
“Even deciding on the name took years, but they finally settled on his wife (Hilda’s) middle name. In 2014, with plans set, construction started on roads and buildings. He enjoyed watching the development grow parcel by parcel and even counting cars on the opening weekend of the national retail shops in October 2017.”
Warren and Hilda’s community involvement included supporting many building projects within the Catholic church in Sioux Falls, including St. Michael Church and school, and raising funds for the bronze statue of Monsignor John McEneaney at the entrance of the O’Gorman High School football field. He served in the Marine Corps from 1951-52 and was a member of the Wayne Township Volunteer Fire Department, a board member for The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and a life member of the Sertoma Club of Sioux Falls.
