Feb. 13, 2024

The Good Samaritan Society is creating a campus in southeast Sioux Falls that its CEO calls a blueprint for the future, bringing senior living connected to health clinic and retail space.

Encompassing almost 100 acres at 57th Street and Veterans Parkway at an estimated $200 million investment, the Founders Crossing development will include multiple options for senior living, connected to a Sanford Health clinic and a Lewis Drug store.

“We really see this as a first-of-its-kind senior living community in the area,” Good Samaritan CEO Nate Schema said. “It really brings together the best of our organizations and allows us to do that close to home. We’re giving our seniors the opportunity to age in place in a safe and supportive environment.”

The 60-acre Good Samaritan campus will be built in phases, beginning the spring and taking until 2028 to fully develop.

The first phase, opening in 2026, will include the first of 146 villa-style homes, which are detached from the main facility and will be rented by residents. Additionally, a five-story multifamily building will include 120 independent living apartments, 32 assisted living apartments and 32 memory care assisted living apartments.

“It can be a lot, especially here in the Midwest, getting our seniors all over the community to go see their physician or go to the pharmacy or get rehab,” Schema said. “This will all be connected.”

Additionally, the apartment community will offer amenities for residents such as walking trails, ponds and recreation spaces.

“Think of a theater space … there will likely be a pub there, there will be spa services, golfing has become popular so I think there will be a golf simulator,” Schema said. “We want technology to be infused across this campus, but it’s going to be senior-focused.”

From 2026 to 2028, the plan is to develop a short-term rehabilitation and long-term care center on the property, plus additional villas.

That’s also when the Sanford Clinic and Lewis Drug locations would be built on the remaining 30 acres, similar to the shared location that just opened in northeast Sioux Falls.

Residents in the apartments or care centers will be able to enter the clinic or Lewis through connected buildings without going outside.

“We have added several new services and clinics over the past decade to ensure our patients are getting the best health care right here, close to home,” said Paul Hanson, president and CEO of Sanford Health in Sioux Falls.

“Adding another Good Samaritan Society campus in Sioux Falls will drive more people to our great community. The vision we have by incorporating a Sanford clinic and Lewis Drug into this campus is convenience at its best, providing residents and patients easy access to health care and a place to fill their prescriptions right down the hall. This vision truly makes us not only a destination for health care but a destination to live and retire.”

Sanford is finalizing its plans for the space, but it will include pediatrics, family medicine, OB/GYN, lab, radiology and therapy.

The Lewis store and product mix will be patterned after the one opening soon in northeast Sioux Falls, as well as the one in a shared development with Sanford in southwest Sioux Falls, CEO Mark Griffin said.

“I really applaud Sanford for creating a campus for living that includes service levels in all areas and also including Lewis Drug,” he said. “It is a self-contained campus with a heavy emphasis on future living that people have not been bold enough to combine at this point, and to bring it to Sioux Falls is truly progressive.”

While the store and clinic will be connected to living space, they will be publicly accessible like any other location.

“It’s really a brilliant concept,” Griffin said.

The project will leave about 7 acres remaining along Veterans Parkway for additional commercial development.

Good Samaritan Society recently sold 40 acres it owned nearby – south of Inspiration Elementary on 41st Street – to the Brandon Valley School District for future use. That land was purchased before the senior housing and services provider became part of Sanford Health.

“Coming together, we saw an opportunity as an integrated health system to imagine a different type of community that integrates the best of our organizations,” Schema said.

Good Samaritan also owns almost 40 acres on the northwest side of Sioux Falls near Benson and Marion roads.

“This could be a blueprint we take to other parts of the community and into the future,” Schema said.

Good Samaritan Society is one of the largest nonprofit providers for senior care and services in the United States with more than 200 locations in 17 states. The organization in recent years has focused on key markets in seven states, including South Dakota and the surrounding region.

“We executed about 50 percent of that strategy,” Schema said, adding sales from former location are being reinvested in developments such as Founders Crossing.

“We’re strategically positioning resources for the future, with this being one of the biggest landmark developments.”