April 3, 2024

A project years in the making will take a big step forward next week.

LifeScape plans to break ground on a 185,000-square-foot facility that will centralize and expand its capacity for children’s services.

The estimated $88 million phase one of the campus is at the northeast corner of 34th Street North and Career Avenue. LifeScape purchased 10 acres and will relocate its 26th Street children’s specialty hospital, residential and school location there.

It’s a new concept from the one announced in early 2020, which would have moved LifeScape facilities to the USD Discovery District, including the rehabilitation outpatient center on 18th Street. That location, adjacent to the Sanford USD Medical Center campus, will remain.

“We ended up having to step back and look at the entire project, and what we ended up doing was putting together a long-term master plan that allowed us to achieve long-term goals but in smaller bites we could take on due to inflation,” CEO Steve Watkins said.

LifeScape already has raised $86 million of the $88 million needed for the first phase, including $14 million from the South Dakota Legislature along with donations from 135 municipalities across South Dakota. That reflects LifeScape’s services, which last year supported more than 3,600 children from 249 communities, Watkins said.

“There’s been support throughout the entire state for it,” he said. “The building is a strategic asset, but it’s really about the mission.”

LifeScape is an independent, nonprofit organization serving adults and children in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The organization supports more than 5,500 people annually and employs more than 1,100 staff members.

The state’s accelerated population growth combined with the fact that one in six children are born with a developmental disability are driving demand.

“It’s kind of a silent pandemic, to be honest with you. It’s not talked about a lot,” Watkins said, estimating that there are 500 families who qualify for services, and “unfortunately, we just don’t have the capacity. … What’s going to be great is … the environment for these kids and staff is going to be times 10 what it is today.”

Phase two of the LifeScape campus is a $10 million project to add a large gym, therapy pool and family meeting areas.

“So we have a place for the kids to blow off energy during the winter months,” Watkins said, adding that now that there’s a guaranteed maximum price on phase one and “inflation is no longer our foe,” design is underway on phase two.

Phase three would involve additional building space to the north, and phase four would be an expansion to the south for residential needs.

“When and if we decide there’s something to add, the space is definitely available,” Watkins said. “This will set us up really well for quite a long time.”

The nonprofit looked at 17 sites for a new location, he said. The individual whose land will become the new campus “ended up contributing quite a lot of value to the project,” Watkins said. “It’s been a farm field back to 1835, so no houses to move or trees or neighbors, and it was zoned already, so it seemed like the right time, right place, right thing. This piece of property is going to facilitate what we do into the next century.”

Koch Hazard is the architect on the project, which includes some of the final work of Jeff Hazard, who died in 2019. Henry Carlson Construction is the general contractor.

The groundbreaking is set for 1:30 p.m. April. 12, and construction is estimated to take 30 months.

LifeScape’s building on 26th Street then will be available for another use.

“It would be fantastic if we could find someone,” Watkins said. “It’s an old building. Structurally, it’s fantastic, but the guts of it are a little dated.”