Nov. 30, 2023

Qader Sadat envisions the former school building he owns as a place where Sioux Falls residents from other countries can feel at home and those who have lived here their whole lives can feel like they’ve taken a journey.

For months, Sadat would drive by the former Joe Foss Alternative School at Cliff Avenue and Third Street multiple times a week on his way to his used-car dealership on East Rice Street, QS Auto Sales, never imagining he would one day own it.

“I didn’t have an ambition to buy the building, but driving by it every day, and one day you know what? I just looked at the building. And when I got inside the building, the first time I see it, it just excited me. I saw a way to transform the building into a nice variety of cultures and shops. “

The building currently has occupants in different stages, and Sadat thinks it will grow in the future months.

So does Andi Anderson, a broker handling the rentals of office and shop space for Bender Commercial Real Estate Services.

“We have various suites of 125 square feet to 1,800 square feet,” Anderson said. “There are opportunities to combine a couple of spaces.”

Since it was listed, Bender has had inquiries from prospective renters, she said. One ground-floor suite could offer access to a patio and outdoor dining.

“You could pretty much do anything, whether it’s a clothing store, a small office, a sandwich shop,” Anderson said. “The office opportunities are needed in that area.”

Global Center is in the Whittier neighborhood. It’s a unique opportunity for that area, offering lots of different sizes and options for people to consider, Anderson said. It offers on-site and street parking. The daily traffic count is more than 13,000 vehicles.

Businesses, organizations and nonprofits currently operating in Global Square, according to the business directory, are Mama Africa Fashion & Market, Kenya Marie Photography, Sanctuary of Praise Assembly of God Church, Benji Music Entertainment, Ismael’s Tax Service and Credit Repair Service, Eli Home Care, IRC Studios, Una Records, Blessed Beauty Supply, South Dakota Aerial & Arts and Whittier Institute for Youth Empowerment.

South Dakota Aerial & Arts, an all-inclusive aerial fitness center, held its Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting in the building this week.

Co-owner Katie Critzer said having the former gymnasium to host the business has been great. It had the structural beams needed for rigging and “a wide-open space that we could make our own,” she said.

“It’s fun to see the artifacts of the building that we have been able to work with, the wide-open windows and architecture,” Critzer said. “It has huge south-facing windows and some lighting from out into the hallways. A lot of aerial studios are a warehouse, a dark box.”

During early morning classes, people have commented on how the rising sun lights up the room, she said. South Dakota Aerial & Arts took possession of the space Nov. 30, 2022, and began offering classes in January.

Sadat likes the history of the building, which was an elementary school before most recently serving the Sioux Falls School District as an alternative high school. It was offered for sale when the high school moved to the Axtell Park school. A religious group was the high bidder in 2015; when that sale fell through, Sadat as the second-highest bidder bought the building more than three years ago.

“I don’t want somebody to destroy it and put up apartments,” he said.

From the beginning, Sadat envisioned the 42,000-square-foot brick building as a multicultural marketplace catering largely to immigrants and startup businesses but open to anyone.

Sadat is an immigrant from Afghanistan who moved to Sioux Falls more than a dozen years ago. His full name is Sayd Abdul Qader Sadat, but he prefers to use Qader – pronounced Carder – Sadat.

City requirements required Sadat to expand the parking for Global Square, and he also has upgraded the heating and air conditioning system. Slogans from the building’s day as a school remain on some of the walls.

Sadat also owns other properties.

“Not that kind and not that style” he said. “Initially, this was complicated, but I think so far we have some progress.”

Sadat is hopeful that a small cafe will open in Global Square and that the building can become an international indoor mall.

“A cafe or a small restaurant will bring in more customers,” he said. “It would be a nice place for a barbershop, actually. I’m anxious to get more variety of shops. I’m thinking about a style shop. But no matter which style it is, you feel like you’re at home.”

Critzer also would like to see an eating place open at Global Square.

“We wanted a place where we can have a community of people,” she said. “We are able to do that, but a space where people can spend time would be great for us. We can participate and enjoy it.”