Feb. 12, 2024

It’s not the outcome Sioux Falls Canaries co-owner Brian Slipka envisioned for the downtown Riverline District — but it’s a recommendation he said he can support.

“I was actually pleased because I knew the baseball thing was not going to be happening in the Riverline District after the way the whole thing got deployed,” he said. “The big thing I was saying from day one is it has to have significant economic growth impact for the city.”

The idea of relocating the Sioux Falls Convention Center downtown “is great and encouraging and great for the city,” he said. “This is where it should be. From a stadium or Canaries perspective, I’m also excited because it kind of keeps the conversations moving.”

After months — years, on some level — of pause, a group assembled to study the future of the Denny Sanford Premier Center complex reconvened last week for the first time since last May. The picture for the campus looks different than it did nine months ago, and even more different than it did in 2019 when a previous iteration of a study group recommended replacing the 1960s-era Sioux Falls Arena and Canaries Stadium, which was renovated in 2000.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” said Tony Nour, senior vice president of First Premier Bank, who led the group. “Now the work begins, and it’s not going to happen as quickly as anyone wants it to.”

After the planning process first was put on pause by the pandemic, it then re-engaged and was put on hold again while plans were considered for the Riverline opportunity. Now, the group hopes for city approval to use the same consultant studying the feasibility and economic impact of a downtown convention center to consider the same opportunities for a recreation center at the Premier Center complex.

After that, study likely would be done on potential uses for adjacent properties to the campus that the city has acquired from Minnehaha County, all leading up to a new master plan for the area.

Meanwhile, the Premier Center complex just ended 2023 in the black, which is “a testament to what we have there,” Nour said, while noting ongoing study groups have identified missed business opportunities because of limitations at the site.

“If we were going to bring on additional convention center space … we knew we were going to need more hotel rooms on-site,” he said. “Even then, there wasn’t such as thing as a Riverline, but we knew … we were missing out on opportunities because we didn’t have the energy from a downtown bringing in conventions we thought Sioux Falls could compete for. We didn’t have that solved at the time. We just knew it was a problem.”

Now, “we’re just regrouping,” Nour said, adding that there’s also ongoing and deferred maintenance on the campus, “and we’re working with the city to prioritize what needs to happen. And we’re trying to get clarity with the Canaries on what their future plans are before we put a lot of taxpayer dollars into that.”

As for the Canaries, Slipka acknowledges that “The Birdcage isn’t getting any younger, and it’s in significant disrepair. It needs literally tens of millions of dollars in upgrades to be stadium-compliant with what a minor league team needs to have.”

That said, “we love The Birdcage, and we learned to embrace it, and we’re going to maximize the use as long as it exists.”

That includes scheduling multiple live music festivals this summer, including a taco and tequila festival featuring hip-hop performers from the 1990s and 2000s. Sponsorship revenue for the upcoming Canaries season already has exceeded last year, he said.

“We’re still making lemons into lemonade, and I’m super proud of (Canaries president) Brian Jamros — he deserves a ton of credit — and the team that’s been built there has been impressive, and we’re making a go of it,” said Slipka, founder and CEO of Truth North Equity Partners.

His company “is getting close to announcing another sports and entertainment facility where we will field a professional sports team and have year-round activities,” he added, while noting that there’s no intention of moving the Canaries.

“We want the Canaries to be a community asset for decades to come in Sioux Falls, and that’s not even in the realm of contemplation,” he said of moving the team. “We’re building on our knowledge and expertise, so when Sioux Falls is ready to step up and be a little bit more of a major player in what they want to be when they grow up, I think we’ll be positioned to help, and we’ll have the experience to be successful.”

Slipka continues to own property adjacent to the Riverline District, where he purchased the Record Keepers building at 221 S. Franklin Ave.

“Right now, we have a strong, long-term tenant in place leasing the space from us,” he said. “When that conversation takes place, I’ll be willing to have it, but I’m not pushing it one way or another.”

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