Sept. 16, 2021

More than 100 acres on the west edge of Brandon are planned for a mix of uses, starting with apartments.

The Encore Park development is 108 acres north of Holly Boulevard on the west end of Brandon, with Ellis and Eastern Company rail running through it.

It’s being developed by Hegg Construction and was longtime farmland for the James and Ruth Ode.

“It’s ag ground, so we have to go through the process of getting it annexed into the city, getting sanitary sewer to it, getting it zoned, we’re applying for a TIF, just a lot of details to get it going so we can build some multifamily,” said Paul Hegg, president of Hegg Companies and a distant relative of the Ode family.

“My father worked on the Ode farm when he was in high school, so there’s a connection there.”

The land is half a mile from Veterans Parkway not far from Sioux Valley Energy.

“The whole area is detached from the city limits and kind of separated by the river and half a mile of other ag land, and then the city limits start,” said Wade Behm, president of Hegg Construction. “There’s a mile and a half in between there and Sioux Falls.”

The apartment project is slated for the south end of the development and would be built in phases totaling about 300 apartments I a mix of traditional and townhome styles.

“As soon as I can get a shovel in the ground on that I’m going to,” Behm said. “Ideally this fall, but it could be pushed to spring based on if it gets too late into the season.”

The overall concept is for workforce housing, Hegg added.

“All of this land was initially slated in their 2035 master plan as industrial because of the rail, but we looked as it as a good opportunity to introduce some workforce housing especially with its access to Veterans Parkway and all the northern Sioux Falls employers coming online and the desire for the Brandon school district,” he said.

“So those were all thought processes and that’s what makes this a good deal for us. It’s market rent, but I would say mid-to-lower market is what we’re going to be.”

The first residents could move in late next summer, assuming construction starts this year.

Hegg also is working on a manufacturing project that would go on the far northeast side of the development. If that continues to come together, it would add more than 100 jobs.

Smaller lots along Holly Boulevard are envisioned as retail, and “we have interest in those lots across the front already,” Behm said.

And the growth of the Ellis and Eastern line, which is planned to connect to Worthington, Minn., in the coming years, is attractive to other businesses, he said.

“If you’re in the Sioux Falls area and want to ship something west, rail is a good option. If you want to ship something east, you’re putting it on a truck. Where with the connection they’re making going east to (connect to) Union Pacific, it makes rail much more competitive.”

The city of Brandon has approved annexation and the preliminary plan for the development, and Hegg is working through zoning and preparing to submit its construction plan.