Sioux Falls Development

[SD-STATE]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Alot of Downtowns die or shrink up with out a big draw like a arena or stadium to revitalize the area. Not much beats a "ma and pa" cafe or shop. You see less and less vibrant "downtowns" in almost any size city. Brookings, on the other hand, seems to be the exception to the rule. Downtown Brookings has seemed to grow over the years and has even put a couple of 22nd Ave. malls to shame.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Well, if I could waive a magic wand and get everything done for free, what I would have done about 20 years ago was build a new Morrell's plant at the intersection of I-90 & I-229 in exchange for their current site. Built a new events center at site of the old Morrell's plant. In my mind, this would have generated a great deal of development downtown and would have located the event center close to downtown, but an area with infrastructrure built in. Of course, in my plan, there are no environmental concerns regarding the current Morrell's site, and the new, efficient building would also guarnatee high paying jobs for SF into the distant future. Just dreaming.

[goon]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

SF has wanted to expand and grow the down town area a lot. Like it was said erlier, what would get more people down town in large numbers the having an arena or event center? The more attractions, the more businesses, the more living spaces DT are all positives in my book. It cleans up the area of old run down buildings with new, It adds entertainment, which couldn't hurt. I am for just about any improvements down town SF with in reason. so far i have liked what i have heard. After I graduate I will be living in SF so that is good news to me.

[2002jack]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Article about this topic in the Argus Leader.

http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll...703310314/1007


I would be for a downtown events center. It almost looks like Sanford is using his hospital to influence SF's development.

[SoDak]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

No way Sioux Falls hosts a men's NCAA regiona or even the opening round games. Just not enough population base around here.

Has anyone been to Spokane, WA? It's in the middle of virtually nowhere, has a population base to draw from that's smaller than Sioux Falls, and hosted a regional tournament this year. I was there last summer and it seemed very comparable to SF, 190,000 people. We could draw a few from Omaha and from Mpls. The closes city of any size to Spokane is Seattle which is 4.5 hours away over mountains. It does have a decent arena, which seats 12,000. Sioux Falls should be planning for a 16-20,000 seat arena. There is no reason to think that Sioux Falls, or Fargo for that matter, couldn't host something like this in the near future.

[jackmd]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

No way Sioux Falls hosts a men's NCAA regiona or even the opening round games.  Just not enough population base around here.

Has anyone been to Spokane, WA?  It's in the middle of virtually nowhere, has a population base to draw from that's smaller than Sioux Falls, and hosted a regional tournament this year.  I was there last summer and it seemed very comparable to SF, 190,000 people.   We could draw a few from Omaha and from Mpls.  The closes city of any size to Spokane is Seattle which is 4.5 hours away over mountains.  It does have a decent arena, which seats 12,000.   Sioux Falls should be planning for a 16-20,000 seat arena.  There is no reason to think that Sioux Falls, or Fargo for that matter, couldn't host something like this in the near future.  

According to Wikpedia the population of the area around Spokane is nearly 600,000!!  Now, if you want to include all of the people in South Dakota as Sioux Falls, we have a comparison.  The "Sioux Falls area" doesn't approach half that number.  Granted, Wikpedia isn't the best source but they do cite state figures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane%2C_Washington

I still argue that there is reason to think Sioux Falls will not be hosting a men's NCAA BB tournament game/round.  Not enough population base.

[filbert]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

No way Sioux Falls hosts a men's NCAA regiona or even the opening round games. Just not enough population base around here.

Has anyone been to Spokane, WA? It's in the middle of virtually nowhere, has a population base to draw from that's smaller than Sioux Falls, and hosted a regional tournament this year. I was there last summer and it seemed very comparable to SF, 190,000 people. We could draw a few from Omaha and from Mpls. The closes city of any size to Spokane is Seattle which is 4.5 hours away over mountains. It does have a decent arena, which seats 12,000. Sioux Falls should be planning for a 16-20,000 seat arena. There is no reason to think that Sioux Falls, or Fargo for that matter, couldn't host something like this in the near future.

2006 population estimates:
Spokane MSA 446,706
Sioux Falls MSA 212,911.

Sioux Falls metro (including Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner, McCook counties) is about half as big as Spokane.

[Jacks02]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

[quote author=SoDak link=1173962272/30#34 date=1175844230]

No way Sioux Falls hosts a men's NCAA regiona or even the opening round games.  Just not enough population base around here.

Has anyone been to Spokane, WA?  It's in the middle of virtually nowhere, has a population base to draw from that's smaller than Sioux Falls, and hosted a regional tournament this year.  I was there last summer and it seemed very comparable to SF, 190,000 people.   We could draw a few from Omaha and from Mpls.  The closes city of any size to Spokane is Seattle which is 4.5 hours away over mountains.  It does have a decent arena, which seats 12,000.   Sioux Falls should be planning for a 16-20,000 seat arena.  There is no reason to think that Sioux Falls, or Fargo for that matter, couldn't host something like this in the near future.  

2006 population estimates:
Spokane MSA 446,706
Sioux Falls MSA 212,911.

Sioux Falls metro (including Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner, McCook counties) is about half as big as Spokane.[/quote]

Sioux Falls may be half as big now, but that gap will continue to close. Projections are for the SF Metro to be over 310,000 by 2025. 2025 sounds like a long ways away, but considering its already 2007, its coming faster than people realize.

Here is a PDF from Sioux Falls City Planning that has alot of interesting stats and projections. The boom is just beginning, its an exciting time to be living in Sioux Falls. If they do plan a new arena, I'd hope its at least a 20,000 seat facility.

http://www.siouxfalls.org/upload/doc...ent_update.pdf

[SoDak]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Ok, those are some numbers I didn't see. I'm not certain how large an area they're putting into Spokane's SMSA, but apparently it's a considerable land area. I have a large client in Spokane and spent a week of each of the last 5 summers there working, and to my notion, the place is not appreciably bigger than SF, even after a city-tour with a local. And, it's about as remote as a city of that size can get. There is nothing in any direction. And I still maintain that with an events center, we most definitely could host a regional.

Another side-note, the US Census Bureau today released a list of the 50 fastest growing Metro Areas, and Sioux Falls is the only one on the list from the midwest.

[jackmd]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Ok, those are some numbers I didn't see.  I'm not certain how large an area they're putting into Spokane's SMSA, but apparently it's a considerable land area.  I have a large client in Spokane and spent a week of each of the last 5 summers there working, and to my notion, the place is not appreciably bigger than SF, even after a city-tour with a local.  And, it's about as remote as a city of that size can get.  There is nothing in any direction.  And I still maintain that with an events center, we most definitely could host a regional.  

Another side-note, the US Census Bureau today released a list of the 50 fastest growing Metro Areas, and Sioux Falls is the only one on the list from the midwest.  

Excellent points. There was a letter to the editor in the Argus regarding the Fargodome and how much more proactive Fargo seems to be than Sioux Falls when it comes to entertainment. I think we can all agree that Sioux Falls will not be considered for a major NCAA event with the current facilities. So, several things have to happen before a NCAA tournament game/round will be hosted in SD. Therefore, I think its going to be a while before we even see a legitimate shot at one of these events.

[SoDak]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Oh, I completely agree. It will be a long time. This city put the 6000 seat SF arena online in 1960 when the population was 65,000. A new venue is sorely needed, and it needs to look to the future, and be in the 16-20,000 seat range, or at least easily expandable to that range. Unfortunately, we have the tremendous cost of a major water project to deal with now, and taxpayers aren't much in the mood for arena talk. They gave the beat-down to an admittedly lavish rec-center a couple of years ago, and I think city government is going to remain somewhat gun-shy at introducing an events center for a bit. If half the announced plans over the last few months for development downtown come about, I think it'll sell in 2 or 3 years.

[filbert]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Somebody at the Argus must be reading this board . . .
Arena's needs anticipated

Studies to also look at Pavilion's next decade

SMG, the group that manages the Arena, asked the city for a "fresh set of eyes" to study the 46-year-old building.

"We don't know what is going to happen with a new events center, or if it's going to happen," said Terry Torkildson, SMG's director of operations.

The last major renovation at the Arena was in 1998, when officials finished a $1.7 million project to add a professional hockey rink, which is used by the Sioux Falls Stampede.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../NEWS/71222005

http://www.uptownatfallspark.com/

A major development in downtown Sioux Falls is moving forward.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

VerSun just announced they are moving their corporate headquarters to Sioux Falls.

[propar80]

Re: Sioux Falls Development

Saw this article on ESPN.com under the women's bball page. It talks about some of the regional sites being considered to host the NCAA Women's 2009-2010, since they will no longer be playing the games at one of the participants courts anymore in the NCAA tournament like they have been(other than the Final Four). Sounds to me like going forward, it will be set up just like the men's tourney.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=3243205

Looking at some of the sites for the NCAA tournament, if SF can get a new events center agreed upon and built, this is a REAL possibility for the city of SF and the state of SD.

Go Jacks!!