Sept. 29, 2025

When Chick-fil-A decides it’s time to build somewhere, it’s clear the market has arrived.

“They choose sites very carefully and very cautiously,” said Sam Assam, president of Assam Cos., who recently sold property to the fast-food restaurant at 4900 E. Arrowhead Parkway after working on the deal for more than a year.

“The walls are up; they’re really going to town.”

The city’s second stand-alone Chick-fil-A is aiming to open by late this year or early next year, Assam said.

And it’s just the latest in a string of businesses expanding in northeast Sioux Falls.

“I’ve got another serious deal underway right now,” Assam said. “It’ll go fast.”

He has about 7 total acres available in various parcels north of Arrowhead Parkway between Highline and Foss avenues.

“I expect it won’t be around for long,” Assam said. “I would guess it will all be spoken for in the next 12 months.”

Major infrastructure investments such as the expanded intersection of Arrowhead and Veterans parkways and the broader Veterans corridor, combined with area population growth, are driving a new wave of business activity in the northeast.

It appealed to First Premier Bank, which bought the northwest corner of Arrowhead and Veterans from Assam late last year. The plan is to break ground on a new branch there in 2026 and open in 2027.

It’s part of the bank’s strategy to ensure its physical presence sufficiently covers the rapidly expanding Sioux Falls metro area, president Dave Rozenboom said.

“We have also found over the past few years that customers tend to prefer branches located on major roadways that are easily accessible while commuting or running everyday errands,” he said.

“We believe the intersection of Arrowhead and Veterans Parkway offers ideal convenience for our current and future customers.”

Local owners invest

Bri Fiedler has seen the benefit of locating her business on the east side of Sioux Falls for the past three years and now is going even bigger.

Fiedler, who owns B|WELL Sioux Falls with her husband, Josh, has operated the fitness and wellness center out of leased space at 1618 S. Sycamore Ave. since expanding from Brookings in 2022.

In the spring, they plan to break ground on a two-story building east of Veterans Parkway and north of Madison Street.

“Being that we already have an established clientele on the east side of town gave us a lot of confidence we wouldn’t have to go through the work of building a clientele, so having a presence made us feel comfortable and just loving the overall growth and direction of Veterans Parkway and what that’s been doing for the Sioux Falls community in terms of bringing Brandon into the commercial retail space,” she said.

“I honestly feel like we could get people from across the border into Minnesota coming over, and just being on Veterans … I think makes it even easier for people coming from the south or west side of town trying to cut across.”

When the new location opens in late 2026 or early 2027, it will be similar in size to the Fiedlers’ new building in Brookings, offering space on the lower level, main and second floors with four fitness studios, two hot yoga rooms, a cycling room, a kickboxing room and a strength studio, as well as a recovery spa with infrared sauna, cold plunge and red light therapy. There also will be space to sell protein shakes and recovery drinks made with a protein powder Fiedler developed.

“Not only it is amazing to operate out of a building built specifically for your business rather than trying to make an existing building work … but also just seeing the overall benefit from an ownership standpoint renting versus owning … was a no-brainer for us,” she said.

Kearsen Nyenhuis agreed. She and her husband, Josh, opened Couture Luxury Flooring & Design Studio earlier this month at 1500 N. Powderhouse Road.

She has worked in the flooring industry for 17 years, “and I just always knew someday I’d want to have my own business,” she said. “We have a lot of people who come in and are working on a remodel or new build, and they like the idea of a one-stop shop.”

In addition to floor coverings, the store supports backsplashes, showers, accent walls, fireplaces — “anything you can adhere a surface too,” she said. “And now that we have our own space, we’re dabbling in wallpaper and maybe a little kitchen and bath.”

At 17,000 square feet, which includes warehouse space, the building shows that “I dream big,” she acknowledged. “I have a lot of trusted and valued relationships I’ve established over the last 17 years in Sioux Falls, and I knew what was lacking was this really curated buying experience.”

The Nyenhuis family lives on the east side and has experienced the “tremendous residential growth,” she said, which contributed to deciding where to build the store.

“There’s so much potential for beautiful growth out here,” she said. “There’s rolling hills, there’s creeks and trees, and I think it just accommodates mid-to-higher-end new construction. It’s convenient for me and for the shopper, and it’s a good marriage of the types of businesses I envision will go up along the path here.”

A ribbon cutting and grand opening is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Oct. 16. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and by appointment.

While Nyenhuis has had to navigate the construction of nearby Veterans and Arrowhead parkways, she has come to see it as a benefit.

“When we first broke ground, people said bad timing, but we had so many when we asked how did you hear about us, they’re all taking the Madison detour and they’ve watched it go up for months wondering about the beautiful building,” she said.

“I’m shocked for not advertising yet the amount of walk-ins we’ve had, which is a welcome surprise. They always say road construction is a sign of a healthy economy, so every bit of construction happening near my store is priming us for a lot of traffic and growth.”

Laying the groundwork

That’s true, contends Ryan Tysdal of Van Buskirk Cos., who is marketing the Foss Fields development along Veterans Parkway from Menards north to Madison Street.

“We’re extremely happy with the activity we have along Veterans Parkway — the activity of retailers and restaurants,” he said.

“We are actively working on finalizing deals with several national retailers. These are deals we’ve been working on quite some time, and we are trying to time our grand openings to happen once a lot of the road construction in the area is wrapped up. I would anticipate you’re going to see the next wave of retail openings in 2027 north of Menards.”

A major apartment project in the development was issued a building permit in August.

Interest in the remaining ground is coming from large and small national retailers, sit-down restaurants and quick-service restaurants, Tysdal said.

“So it’ll be a mix of everything you’d expect to see in a first-class shopping center,” he said. “Most of our out-lots are probably going to be sold. If you think about a fast-food restaurant, they have plenty of time to buy a pad and build their little building and be open. They can do all that in less than a year. So they’ll be buying in 2026 and opening in 2027 right along with everyone else.”

The success of nearby national retailers such as Walmart and Target, the overall Dawley Farm Village development and the major arterial roadways being completed add up to that kind of momentum for more activity, Tysdal added.

“That coupled with Veterans connecting to I-90 is what’s really driving demand, combined with the fact that many national retailers who operate in Sioux Falls do extremely well,” he said. “And at Foss as part of phase one, we have strip malls going up there. So there will be opportunities for franchisees and small-shop retail that wants to draw off all the nationals.”