March 29, 2021

When Ron Bowden opened Storage Center one year ago on the east side, he envisioned eventually building an identical location on the west side.

And in the past 12 months, his preferred location became clear: 41st Street and Ellis Road.

“We were eyeballing pieces on the west side, and the whole corner seemed inviting,” Bowden said. “So I reached out, and they are really enthusiastic about the whole fit.”

He plans to build the three-story, climate-controlled facility on the northwest corner of the intersection – the latest development in an area that quickly is becoming one of the west-side’s fastest growing areas.

“It’s a fantastic complement to all those twin homes, and anytime you have multifamily, there’s a storage need,” Bowden said. “We’ll expand the number of larger units and still maintain the smaller ones that are more appropriate for apartments and twin homes for when they want to get things out of the way.”

All housing types are growing in the area.

Bowden’s facility will be at the same corner as The Silos at Ellis Crossing, a new multifamily complex under construction that eventually will offer 315 apartment and town home options.

The first 30 town homes will open in late spring, and the first more traditional apartment building is scheduled to open in July, with 72 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The development will feature a “contemporary farmhouse” design, said Luke Jessen, development director for Lloyd Cos.

“I’m really excited to see that farmhouse feel,” he said. “It’s got a new design that promote ground-floor living space. And these will have a two-stall garage with every unit and a cool front-porch feel.”

Community amenities include an outdoor pool, dog park, playground, fitness center and community room.

Another mixed-use building will combine ground-floor commercial with apartments above.

The east side of the property, along Ellis Road, is planned to be full commercial, with a master plan that includes a larger strip mall and gas station.

“The city has basically called Ellis Road their main corridor going north and south on the west side of town, and it’s a pretty beautiful street,” Jessen said.

“It’s laid out very well. And being on that corner we felt was a great place for retail. Twelve months from now, it’s going to feel totally different because there’s a lot of activity happening there.”

The area is attracting commercial interest, and “when people are ready to go, we’re ready to go,” said Raquel Blount, the vice president of commercial real estate at Lloyd.

She also has a new retail center listed on the northeast corner, which will be partially occupied by a bar and casino and has about 5,500 square feet remaining.

“We’re anxiously awaiting the open of the area retail, which will further the traffic count,” Blount said. “Having destination retail in the area makes it a great opportunity for service users like dentists, chiropractors, because the area has dense housing but doesn’t have a lot of services yet.”

One of those awaited openings happens this week, when Fareway opens its second Sioux Falls location.

The grocery store is an anchor for Westown Marketplace, which includes 25 acres on the northeast side of the intersection and where Dollar Tree opened earlier this year.

“We’ve sold four parcels so far, with five more under contract and scheduled to close before Labor Day,” said Ryan Tysdal of Van Buskirk Cos., who has the property co-listed with Joel Ingle of Harr & Lemme Commercial Real Estate. “We are really pleased with the activity we are seeing at Westown Marketplace.”

Tysdal and Ingle estimate being ready to announce some of those deals by early summer.

Tysdal attributes Fareway as the impetus of the development.

“Retailers are attracted to grocery-anchored centers,” he said. “Grocery stores create a large number of daily trips of people to the development. Additional retail, service, fitness and food tenants benefit from the number of people attracted to the site by the grocery store.”

Retailers and restaurants in this quadrant of the city perform “exceedingly well,” he added.

“There are over 50,000 people who live west of Interstate 29 in Sioux Falls. That alone would be the third-largest city in South Dakota.”

Commercial development in the area has not kept up with population growth, according to Ingle.

“For years, many commercial tenants considered The Empire Mall area as their west-side location. Nowadays, the city extends several miles west of The Empire Mall, and additional locations are needed to serve that area of Sioux Falls.”

With a couple of larger tenants in place, the brokers said they’re working on filling in the development with businesses that offer neighborhood services.

“We are talking with several banks right now – we have a great hard corner that’s ideal for a bank. We are also talking with fast-food tenants. This area is very underserved by restaurants,” Tysdal said.

“We have a four-building commercial project kicking off this summer, with space that’s ideal for service-type tenants such as salons, chiropractors, dentists, fitness, investments and insurance tenants.”

The project also includes a building envisioned as a child care center.

“We’re pleased with how things are already going. This area will really look different in 12 months,” Ingle said.