Jan. 20, 2025

A new housing development is coming to northeast Sioux Falls adjacent to Mapleton Golf Club.

Mapleton Highlands is being developed by Van Buskirk Cos. on the northeast side of interstates 90 and 229. The site is on the west side of the private golf club and along Slip Up Creek.

The 160-acre development will hold about 230 lots, with the 16 adjacent to the golf course opening this year, plus a future phase of villa-style homes.

“They’re really large lots,” co-CEO Steve Van Buskirk said. “We have 3.5-acre lots, a lot of 1-acre lots, so this is like Prairie Tree, how that subdivision has larger lots for executive homes. This seems very similar with the size of the lots and the curving streets and nice sweeping views perched up on top of the hill overlooking the golf course and valleys.”

Sanitary sewer services will be available with a temporary lift station and are being worked into the city’s plan for sewer expansion, Van Buskirk said.

“We’ve had a bunch of interest,” he said. “We’ve been taking lot reservations since October, and we’ve been working with the golf course members and investors over the last three months taking their reservations and finding spots they want to go, and it’ll open to the public Feb. 1.”

Lots for single-family homes range from about $195,000 to $500,000. All homes so far are custom, though “we’ve got some builders talking about spec homes, but they’re going to be uniquely designed,” Van Buskirk said.

A conceptual rendering of the development

The community will be under covenants for building similar to Van Buskirk’s Prairie Hills and Cherry Lake neighborhoods.

“We’re out of executive neighborhoods in Sioux Falls,” Van Buskirk said. “We’ve had a lot of that big-home development in some appropriate places, and we’re running out of those areas that are convenient into town, and that’s where this really hit home with us.”

Not since Prairie Green was developed in the 1990s has there been an opportunity for this style of development, he said.

“It is 100 percent part of Sioux Falls,” Van Buskirk said. “We’re just right on the edge of everything in Sioux Falls, but it’s so much closer than you really think about.”

While much of the development, including along the golf course, will be luxury homes, the balance will be geared more toward move-up buyers, and the villa-style homes could appeal to empty nesters wanting to be close to family in the area, he continued.

Of the 230 lots, about three dozen will open this year, and if the pace of absorption continues, the second phase will open in the fall, he said.

“Now it’s getting fun,” Van Buskirk added. “The last two years have been about sanitary sewer, and the last three months have been the fun part, talking to customers and helping customers envision where they’re going to go out in the subdivision. Because the lots are large, there are a lot of design possibilities, so it’s been fun to start dreaming with people.”

The plan is to have building sites ready in October, so home construction can start this fall and the first residents could move in next year.

The city is planning to pave 72nd Street North to 476th Avenue in 2026 if the schedule holds, Van Buskirk said.

Mapleton Golf Club itself remains on track for a late summer opening, said Danny Amundson, who is leading the group of founding owners to support construction.

“We had such great weather last fall; that really helped with everything,” he said. “We were able to get the golf course almost 100 percent constructed. We’ve got a few cleanup things to do in the spring, but all the holes were built, the grass seed is in the ground on most everything … and the stuff that got grassed in September had some substantial growth to it.”

The maintenance facility to support the club is operating, and the clubhouse is almost fully enclosed, he said.

The plan is to have the building ready by August, with 12 overnight suites breaking ground in the spring and ready for the first full year of golf in 2026.

Once the sand traps and green grass were in, membership sales picked up even more, Amundson said. There were 40 sold from mid-September through November, leaving 65 single memberships remaining.

“I think once we get into summer and people can take tours of the clubhouse that’s very advanced in construction and the golf course is greening up, (they will sell),” he said. “The housing coming online will help with anybody who wants to live in there.”

The executive homes adjacent to the course will be “a great transition,” he continued. “It’s going to add a dynamic for those people who want to join the club and live just minutes from Sioux Falls with the access through I-229.”

Members will have access for their households to the dining and bar at the club, and there will be a cart path for residents who want to drive a golf cart from their home to the club.

“It has an opportunity to be a little bit of a community for those who live there and are a member of the club,” Amundson said.

The broader area is becoming a mix of “absolutely everything,” Van Buskirk said.

A nearby industrial development is anchored by the headquarters for Maguire, while the South Dakota Veterans Cemetery sits to the north, and the intersection of 72nd Street North and 476th Avenue is envisioned as a major commercial area.

“It’s full mixed-use and really going to be integrated into Sioux Falls in the next five to 10 years,” he said. “There will be a lot of changes coming up here.”