April 16, 2021

A historic downtown building on Main Avenue likely will be staying office space.

The building at 114 S. Main Ave. had been envisioned as a potential retail space for users such as a distillery or food court.

But interest is coming from office and education users instead.

Twin Cities-based McGough, a construction firm adding a Sioux Falls office, leased 4,000 square feet on the first floor.

“And they’re going to start their build-out and are going to be renovating the main lobby, repositioning it, and they just tuck-pointed the building and are putting a big signage bar on it, so you’ll see new signs on the building,” said Gregg Brown of NAI Sioux Falls, who has the rest of the space listed.

On the second floor, Dakota Wesleyan University has leased 6,000 square feet of classroom space for its Learn & Earn program, a 16-month path to an associate degree with the opportunity to continue on to a bachelor’s degree. The program launches in August.

“And we’ll still be working on a second tenant for the first floor, and we have space on the second floor on the back overlooking Phillips Avenue,” Brown said.

“But we’re excited about the momentum.”

The first floor likely won’t be retail use though, he said, as interest has leaned more toward office.

“There’s definitely activity downtown on the leasing front,” Brown said.