Jan. 11, 2022

First State Bank Southwest is heading west – opening its first South Dakota branch in Sioux Falls.

The Worthington, Minnesota, bank has had a loan production office in the city since 2018 and has been focused on growing to the point of establishing its first full-service branch.

It’s under construction at 57th Street and Graystone Avenue in southeast Sioux Falls.

“We’re excited,” market president Jordan Huisken said. “I think it will look nice along 57th Street and work for us. We just felt with everything happening on the southeast side of Sioux Falls, Veterans Parkway being a big player, that we were able to come in and … we can be one of few financial institutions in that area as development happens around it.”

Determining the location “was hard,” he added. “We spent hours and hours in the vehicle. I don’t think there’s a wrong spot necessarily in Sioux Falls.”

Huisken has been with the bank more than a decade, beginning as an ag lender in Pipestone, Minnesota, before moving to the Worthington headquarters in 2013, where he led mortgage lending and later transitioned to commercial lending.

He and his wife, Ashley, who is from Sioux Falls, moved here last year.

“We love it,” he said. “We always felt like Sioux Falls would be the place we would eventually end up.”

The new building will be 4,300 square feet with a double drive-thru and interactive teller machines, “so customers will have 24-hour access to their accounts with all the same functionality they would receive with a normal teller during business hours,” Huisken said.

With the design, “we wanted to make a statement,” he continued. “On the south side, we have windows that will let a lot of natural light into the lobby area.”

The plan is to open in the third quarter with a staff of five or six. This will be the sixth branch for the Minnesota bank.

“We have customers who have grown up with us in southwest Minnesota and relocated to Sioux Falls, so we wanted to offer services to our longtime customers, whether it’s retiring in South Dakota or going to college and staying in South Dakota,” Huisken said. “And then being part of the future growth of Sioux Falls. Every year you’re not in this market you’re missing out on growth opportunities.”