Feb. 9, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by The Ramkota Companies.

It won’t be long before Sioux Falls-based Ramkota Companies counts two hotels in Rapid City across a major intersection from one another.

The first, an existing Holiday Inn Express & Suites, became part of the portfolio at the end of 2021. The 99-room hotel built in 2016 was acquired from Howell Properties.

“The previous owners did a great job keeping up the property, so we’re just going to continue to do the same and don’t have any changes planned in the immediate future because it is in such good shape,” Ramkota CEO Josh Schmaltz said.

The hotel features suites with microwaves and fridges in every room, a full breakfast included with every stay, a fitness center, heated indoor pool and whirlpool.

“We think there’s great brand loyalty nationally with Holiday Inn Express, and we love the location in relationship to land we own nearby,” Schmaltz said.

Across the intersection of Mount Rushmore Road and Catron Boulevard, Ramkota is planning to break ground this spring on a ClubHouse Hotel & Suites. The four-story, 106-room ClubHouse will be the fourth in Ramkota’s portfolio.

“It made sense to us to expand our ClubHouse footprint to the western side of the state. We now will have a ClubHouse on the eastern, center and western part of the state. We also have a ClubHouse Hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. Our customers are very loyal to the ClubHouse brand not only in South Dakota but in the entire Midwest.”

It will include meeting space for up to 150 people along with a complimentary breakfast, fitness center and 24-hour business center.

“We’ll do a little splash park with the indoor pool and have a beautiful outdoor patio,” Schmaltz added. “A big part of the Hills is being outside, so we’ll be able to utilize the outdoors with great views of the Black Hills off to the west.”

Ramkota also sold a portion of its 4.4-acre property to Sioux Falls-based WR Hospitality, which plans to build a full-service restaurant.

“We like the area – it’s a growing area,” president Don Anderson said. “There are a lot of apartments and not too many places to eat on the south end of town.”

WR is still finalizing a name for its new restaurant concept, which will be connected to the hotel by a breezeway.

“So you won’t have to walk outside,” Anderson said, adding the restaurant will cater both to guests and area residents.

“We specialize in being a neighborhood place,” he said.

Ramkota and WR also partner on restaurants with hotels in other locations, including the existing Best Western Ramkota and Minervas in Rapid City.

For both entities, it has been a strong market.

“We love the market,” Schmaltz said. “We have great support from a tourism standpoint, and now with the medical and corporate growth Rapid City is seeing, there’s expansion in multiple directions. And, of course, the growth of Ellsworth Air Force Base figures into it as well.”

The area with Ramkota’s newest hotels also is close to medical centers, Black Hills Energy, a new bank and a large new apartment complex.

“Rapid City and the Black Hills just continues to be a destination,” Schmaltz said. “We don’t really see a slow time of year there anymore.

“The leaders in Rapid City have done a great job marketing the community as a year-round destination.”

The plan is to open the ClubHouse Hotel and the new restaurant close to the same time, likely in late summer or fall of 2023.

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