Q2 2022 Chairman’s Report

As the second quarter of 2022 comes to a close, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation is excited to provide a quarterly update on our initiatives. Watch this video to hear from SFDF board chair Kurt Loudenback as he shares his history with the Foundation, what he’s excited about for the future, and more!

Chairman’s Report – Kurt Loudenback

Groundbreaking season is here!

With the change of the weather comes our favorite season: groundbreaking season.

For the nearly seven decades, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation has hosted groundbreakings and helped organizations in our community commemorate new chapters of growth and success.

As 2022 kicked off, we’ve already held nine groundbreakings. Learn about each project and groundbreaking below!

Hayward Park

In March, the City of Sioux Falls broke ground on $2.2 million improvements to Hayward Park near Hayward Elementary School.

L to R: Sara Porter Montgomery, Jan Nicolay, Cynthia Mickelson, Andy Patterson, James Gaspar, Don Kearney, Greg Neitzert, Rick Kiley, Ann Nachtigal, Matt Hart, three Hayward Elementary students, Hayward Principal Derek Maasen, Mayor Paul TenHaken, David Locke, Kurt Loudenback.

Affordable Housing Solutions

In April, Affordable Housing Solutions (AHS) broke ground on six townhome/twin home units on South Sycamore Avenue. Each unit will be sold to an income-eligible buyer that meets the HUD income guidelines of being at or below 80% of the Area Median Income. The entire project is expected to cost $1.6 million, and will be complete by November 2022.

L to R: Kurt Loudenback, Karl Fulmer – AHS Executive Director, Dave Rozenboom, Brent Tucker, Jeff Eckhoff, Dominique Jackson, and Jeff Griffin.

Tomar Park

The City of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls Tennis Association broke ground on a $3 million, 12-court tennis complex at Tomar Park.

L to R: Dick Jameson, Alex Jensen, Tom Walsh Sr., Jamie Volin, Ann Nachtigal, Carissa Dice, Lydia Healy – Sioux Falls Tennis Association, Eric Weisser, Steve Kolbeck, Don Kearney, and Tory Miedema.

Banner Associates

Banner Associates broke ground on a 14,000-square foot, two-story building in northwest Sioux Falls. The building will provide space for their professional/technical engineering staff in the Sioux Falls region, with the option for a future building expansion.

L to R: Jeremy Eitreim, Scott Lawrence, James Drew, Pat Starr, Scott Vander Meulen, Brad Wermers – Banner President, Kurt Loudenback, Carol Kervin, Gregg Jorgenson, Dave Lorang, and Mary Johnson.

Regional Water Reclamation Facility

The City of Sioux Falls broke ground on the Regional Water Reclamation Plant expansion. It is the first major expansion project since the original facility was built over 40 years ago. These improvements will extend the useful life of the overall system and address growth and economic development for the region over the next 20 years.

L to R: Erin Bofenkamp, Mark Hierholzer, Erica Beck, Allyn Brummel, Shad Hochstein, Tony Schnetter, Shannon VerHey, Mark Perry, Reynold Nesiba, Mark Cotter, Bob Mundt, Joe Van Schepen, Mayor Paul TenHaken, Alex Jensen, DANR Secretary Hunter Roberts, Jeff Warkenthien, Phil Greenwood, James Peterson, Chad Meyer, and Chris Anvik.

Startup Sioux Falls Wallbreaking

The Milwaukee Freight Depot building (affectionately referred to as “The Depot”) will be the home base for entrepreneurs and startup founders in Sioux Falls when it opens in Q1 of 2023. Once completed, the building will feature coworking space, conference room space, and a multipurpose space for the startup community. The team at Startup Sioux Falls plans to activate this historic site by building a community of founders and remote workers, hosting regular workshops and programs, and by expanding the reach of their existing resources in this new, more accessible location.

Back L to R: Bob Mundt, Nolan Hazard, Mayor Paul Ten Haken, Allie Hartzler, Steve Watson, Bill Anderson, Mike Lynch, Mike Ridder, and Mark Lukonen.

Middle L to R: Barb Glazier, Peter Hauck, Kayla Huizing, Brienne Maner – Executive Director of Startup Sioux Falls, Jeff Griffin, Amy Moore, Paul Tschetter, Darin Hage

Front L to R: Matt Paulson, Karla Santi, Kayla Eitreim, Keith Severson, Sara Lum, and Jill Mockler.

BritZa Performing Arts Studio

BritZa Performing Arts Studio has been a part of the Sioux Falls community for 36 years as a dance studio. As the business continues to grow, so are the offerings. This new location will feature four studios to teach dancing, acting and singing, along with a retail space for guests and students to purchase items for classes. BritZa is looking forward to offering students the opportunity to study these performing arts in one location.

L to R: Elliott Hahn, Austin Hahn, Amanda Hahn, Sylas Hahn, Pat Starr, Jason Herrboldt, and Karla Santi.

Comfort Inn & Suites Sanford Sports Complex

Leaders from Sanford Sports and MinnKota Hospitality broke ground on the new Comfort Inn and Suites at the Sanford Sports Complex.

This 86-room, four-story hotel will be one of the first ‘Rise and Shine’ prototypes in the country, offering a very contemporary and trendy design, featuring an over-sized swimming pool, meeting space, a beer and wine lounge, and a patio with fire pits.

L to R: Peter Mittelsted, Austin Parks, Scott Lawrence, Steve Young, Emily Linehan, Thomas Squires, Eric Seljeskog – MinnKota Hospitality managing member, Stan Westland, Jeff Eckhoff, Kurt Loudenback, and Ed Ostrom.

Alloy One and Alloy Two at Griffith Park (Enclave)

Enclave broke ground on their two industrial spec buildings in northern Sioux Falls.

Developed by Enclave and constructed in partnership with Valor Contracting, Alloy One and Alloy Two are two new concrete tilt-up industrial spec buildings located on the north side of Sioux Falls with immediate access to I-90 and I-29. The buildings are part of Enclave’s masterplan at Griffith Park situated adjacent to five Aldi-anchored retail lots near Walmart and Starbucks at the corner of North Career Avenue and West 60th Street North.

L to R: Kayla Eitreim, Kurt Loudenback, John Overwise, Jesse South, Jason Thompson, Michael Gullickson, Paul Muscha, Joe Schneider, Brian Bochman – Developer, Enclave, Christina Graalum, and Jeff Eckhoff

Want to Host a groundbreaking?

Over the past six decades, the Development Foundation has hosted hundreds of groundbreakings. If your business is planning an expansion or constructing a new facility in Sioux Falls, contact us to arrange a groundbreaking.

We make it easy for you by providing you with a commemorative mini shovel, bringing the gold shovels for the digging ceremony, inviting media and the business community, and helping you to prepare an agenda for the event.

Students take inside look at potential careers through immersive high school program

Connecting high school students with potential careers is the focus of an effort by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation that has reached hundreds of students this past school year.

It culminates in a weekly internship allowing students to immerse themselves in a business of their choice. And the impact can be big.

Take a look:

Career Connections Program – First PREMIER Bank

Talent Thursday with Kristin Cooke

Talent Thursday is a weekly social media livestream event that spotlights talent and workforce in our area by sharing workforce best practices.

For Thursday, May 26, 2022, we caught up with Kristin Cooke, Strategic Communications Manager for Citizens Bank. While Citizens is based on the east cost, Kristin works remotely here in Sioux Falls. She shares more about her career journey, her current role, and why Sioux Falls is a great place to live and work – whether it be remotely or in person at any of our great businesses.

Talent Thursday is held weekly on Thursdays at 3 p.m. CT on the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s Facebook page. Follow here: https://www.facebook.com/developsf.

TALENT THURSDAY

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

Talent Thursday with Kristin Hoefert – Redlinger

Talent Thursday is a weekly social media livestream event that spotlights talent and workforce in our area by sharing workforce best practices.

For Thursday, May 5, 2022, we caught up with Kristin Hoefert – Redlinger of Northwestern Mutual. She shared about her career journey, as well as how Northwestern Mutual’s great internship program has helped them create a strong company culture.

Talent Thursday is held weekly on Thursdays at 3 p.m. CT on the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s Facebook page. Follow here: https://www.facebook.com/developsf.

 

TALENT THURSDAY

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

Talent Thursday with Ian Nash of Henkel

Talent Thursday is a weekly social media livestream event that spotlights talent and workforce in our area by sharing workforce best practices.

For Thursday, May 5, 2022, we caught up with Kristin Hoefert – Redlinger of Northwestern Mutual. She shared about her career journey, as well as how Northwestern Mutual’s great internship program has helped them create a strong company culture.

Talent Thursday is held weekly on Thursdays at 3 p.m. CT on the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s Facebook page. Follow here: https://www.facebook.com/developsf.

 

TALENT THURSDAY

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

From Atlanta to Sioux Falls, couple with global history chooses S.D. after lots of research

Brian and Katherine Robinson began their move from Atlanta with this question: “Where do we not want to live?”

The couple, who’d spent 12 years overseas before moving back to the U.S., had found “Atlanta had gotten so big and had changed so much,” Brian said. “We thought about living overseas, but with COVID and the uncertainty, the U.S. is probably best for us. So we first blacked out all the areas we didn’t want to live.”

That left a large open space in the middle of the country, from Idaho to South Dakota. The Robinsons began their research from there.

Brian and Katherine Robinson

“Sioux Falls has a lot of good information about it online, there’s a lot of good vibe online about Sioux Falls, so we did a drive,” Brian said. “We came to Sioux Falls in August of last year and then went to Wyoming and Colorado to do a comparison.”

The more they thought about it, the move became clear.

“Sioux Falls is great because it’s big enough but not too big,” he said. “It’s a regional hub, so it has a lot of things a larger city would normally have but a city of 200,000 wouldn’t have. It has changing diversity, it’s growing, the economy is good, and people you talk to are really excited to be in Sioux Falls, so there’s a community aspect.”

They liked that it wasn’t a part of the country where they’d spent much time, “so for us it was another adventure,” Katherine said. “It came down to the in-person visits. We spent time downtown. It’s a very vibrant, exciting, warm, welcoming place, and I think that really did it for us. Being downtown, sitting at the Carpenter Bar, having a drink outside, it just felt really nice and hit a chord.”

Brian and Katherine Robinson

The Robinsons are able to do their work from largely anywhere. Katherine has spent a career in public health and works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brian’s retired from a diplomatic career in 2019 that took him to multiple continents. He now does health coaching and runs an online business sourcing and selling vintage clothing and decor.

“COVID allowed us a good solid number of months to soul search and figure out what’s important,” Katherine said. “We’re both in our early 50s, and as we enter this new phase, what is important and what do we really want? We don’t want the hustle and bustle of a big city and traffic. It was really about community and getting back to just living and being happy.”

They moved to Sioux Falls in January.

“We grew up in the South and did all our service overseas in the tropics or subtropics, so we never lived anywhere cold,” he said. “I don’t prefer the heat anyway, so to come here and have it chilly and cold, I kind of like it. It makes you think about weather in a different way. We check the weather every day and never did before, and it puts you more in touch with the natural environment because it has a larger impact on you day to day.”

They found a home in the McKennan Park neighborhood, which appealed to Brian’s affinity for historic preservation, and enjoy walking their neighborhood, visiting the park and frequenting nearby downtown restaurants.

Brian and Katherine Robinson

“We arrived during the Downtown Burger Battle, and we’re health coaches, so it’s probably not wise to have a burger every day, but we did have a chance to try a few of them,” Katherine said. “I realize it was a light winter, but we were prepared. If you’ve got the right equipment and clothing and attitude, you can live anywhere.”

Brian has joined the Founders Club of Startup Sioux Falls to connect with other entrepreneurs, and they’re both finding it easy to travel for work.

“The airport is great,” he said. “It’s a fantasy to leave your house and be at the gate in 20 minutes.”

The Robinsons are a perfect example of the many demographics of people being drawn to Sioux Falls, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development at the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“We are just thrilled to have them here and that they’re already becoming connected to the community,” she said. “We are seeing more remote workers at all career stages realize how convenient and enjoyable it is to work from their new home in Sioux Falls.”

Brian and Katherine Robinson

For the Robinsons, Sioux Falls has provided a warm welcome and multiple reasons to look forward to their future here.

“People are super friendly and very welcoming, and the amount of arts in the city is really refreshing and nice,” Katherine said. “I love the sculptures and the murals, the Washington Pavilion always has a million things going on, and I love that there’s a lot of outreach to the community and the youth.”

They also enjoy discovering “all the shops and small businesses being opened by recent immigrants,” Brian added. “That’s really exciting. When you think about it, few people in South Dakota have been here that long, so many of us are coming from the same background and moving in.”

Are you looking to make a move to Sioux Falls? Visit siouxfalls.com to learn more about the community, or email deniseg@siouxfalls.com to get connected to career opportunities.

South Dakota ranks as one of the best states to start e-commerce businesses

Build your e-commerce business in South Dakota

With beautiful bike trails, bustling downtowns, and rolling plains of farmland, South Dakota is a great place to call home, but it’s also a great place to start a business!

Our business-friendly tax climate is one of the best in the nation. See why digital commerce company, Nexcess, ranked South Dakota in the top five states to start an e-commerce business.

Dean Dziedzic
Need a place to build? Contact

Dean Dziedzic

VP of Economic Development, Sioux Falls Development Foundation

Groundbreaking Season is Here

Our favorite time of the year: Groundbreaking Season

If your business is planning a construction expansion or a new facility in Sioux Falls, contact the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. Over the past six decades, the Development Foundation has hosted hundreds of groundbreakings.

We make it easy for you by providing you with a commemorative mini-shovel for display, bringing the gold shovels for the digging ceremony, inviting media and the business community, and helping you to prepare an agenda for the event.

Leah Friese Headshot
Want a groundbreaking? Contact

Leah Blom

Social and Digital Media Specialist, Sioux Falls Development Foundation

Career Connections Visits April 2022

The Sioux Falls Development Foundation is working to connect students with in-demand careers in Sioux Falls through our Career Connections program. In April 2022, the students toured businesses in healthcare, construction, and municipal government. Watch this video to learn how the visits changed students’ perspectives on these careers.

 

CAREER CONNECTIONS VISITS APRIL 2022

Denise Guzzetta
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CAREER CONNECTIONS PROGRAM?

DENISE GUZZETTA

VP of Talent and Workforce Development, Sioux Falls Development Foundation

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

Sioux Falls ranked a top 10 mid-size city by AARP

SIOUX FALLS MAKES AARP’S TOP 10

AARP has ranked Sioux Falls a top 10 mid-size city!

The index scores every neighborhood and community in the United States for the services and amenities that affect people’s lives the most as they age by using more than 50 national data sources to measure 61 community characteristics across seven categories: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity.

Talent Thursday with Wendy Alexander

Talent Thursday is a weekly social media livestream event that spotlights talent and workforce in our area by sharing workforce best practices.

For Thursday, May 5, 2022, we caught up with Kristin Hoefert – Redlinger of Northwestern Mutual. She shared about her career journey, as well as how Northwestern Mutual’s great internship program has helped them create a strong company culture.

Talent Thursday is held weekly on Thursdays at 3 p.m. CT on the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s Facebook page. Follow here: https://www.facebook.com/developsf.

 

TALENT THURSDAY

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

Affordable Housing Solutions breaks ground with strong public-private partnership

Building and construction season has begun, which means the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s groundbreaking season has started as well.

Groundbreakings are special to the hosting businesses and organizations as they mark new chapters for growth and prosperity, but they also hold a special significance through the lens of Forward Sioux Falls.

Growth like Sioux Falls has experienced has been the vision of Forward Sioux Falls since its beginning. As our city grows, community leaders have managed growth with careful planning and consideration of many factors, including workforce and housing.

One recent groundbreaking celebrated the beginning of an exciting accessible housing project.

Affordable Housing Solutions (AHS) will be building six townhome/twin home units on South Sycamore Avenue. Each unit will be sold to an income-eligible buyer that meets the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) income guidelines of being at or below 80% of the Area Median Income. The entire project is expected to cost $1.6 million, and will be complete by November 2022.

Affordable Housing Solutions Project Rendering

“There is such a need for affordable housing in Sioux Falls and the surrounding communities that adding home ownership opportunities for families who meet the required income guidelines can feel a sense of pride in achieving the American dream of home ownership,” Brent Tucker, Director of housing Development for AHS, said. “Building affordable housing developments in existing neighborhoods brings a positive impact on the surrounding neighbors.”

The project was supported by the City of Sioux Falls Accessible Housing Advisory Board (AHAB), a cooperative effort between the City of Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County. One function of the AHAB is to oversee the distribution of HUD grants, such as the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program.

The HOME program allocates funds to expand the supply of safe, sanitary, and affordable housing for very low-income and low-income families (source: City of Sioux Falls). As AHS brought forth this qualifying project, the AHAB partnered with AHS to provide $240,000 in HOME funds.

“Addressing our housing challenges will continue to happen through a steady drumbeat of innovative programs, partnerships, and ideas,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said. “Collaborating with our non-profit housing partners is an integral aspect of our 2026 Housing Action Plan, and we are so appreciative of Affordable Housing Solutions and their local lending partners for making these homes available to families in our community.”

HOME grants also require a 25% non-federal match from local resources. AHS received $53,000 from Wells Fargo and $90,000 from First PREMIER Bank, demonstrating the ways our community continues to invest in the future of Sioux Falls.

“We are blessed with a strong and growing economy in Sioux Falls, but it is also important for us to acknowledge some of the challenges that come with that,” Dave Rozenboom, Forward Sioux Falls Cabinet Co-Chair and President of First PREMIER Bank, said. “Workforce development, childcare and affordable housing are some of the pressing issues we are currently facing as a community. In each case, there is no single answer or magic bullet, but rather the solutions are found by people and organizations working together to do their part – one project or initiative at a time. In this case, a couple of businesses in the private sector (First PREMIER and Wells Fargo) were able to partner with the non-profit sector (Affordable Housing Solutions) and the public sector (City of Sioux Falls and HUD) to turn this project into reality. No one of us could have done it on our own, it took each of us doing our part.”

Thanks to strong public-private partnerships like this, Sioux Falls continues to benefit from the growth we are experiencing. Coupled with the initiatives of Forward Sioux Falls, we will keep working to add jobs, grow businesses and enhance our region’s quality of life.

SFDF launches workforce marketing campaign

In September 2021, the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) awarded the Sioux Falls Development Foundation a $50,000 grant for workforce recruitment marketing.

The grant comes on the heels of the SFDF’s first workforce marketing campaign, WORK Sioux Falls. Using insights from that campaign, this campaign will be purely digital and video ads. The ads will be targeted geographically to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and California to labor forces in healthcare, cyber/tech, and building and skilled trades.

OVERVIEW OF MEDIA PLACEMENT STRATEGY

The goal of the marketing campaign is to inform out-of-state job seekers that South Dakota businesses are hiring with competitive pay and great benefits. The SFDF has been working with a South Dakota advertising agency to develop a media strategy, along with digital and video ads to showcase Sioux Falls as a great place to live and have a career. Below is a sampling of the ads that started running April 10, and will be running through the rest of the year.

FREEDOM WORKS HERE ADS

In addition to the static display and banner ads above, a video ad was also created and will run in the same target markets. You can view it below:

“It’s no secret that workforce is one of the biggest challenges for businesses right now,” said Bob Mundt, President and CEO of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. “As the leading organization dedicated to improving the economy of Sioux Falls, we’ve been proud to offer innovative workforce programs, but this grant funding gives us the opportunity to do even more, and that’s something we’re really excited about.”

This program was made possible by funding from Forward Sioux Falls, and we look forward to sharing the success after the campaign is complete.

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Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.

Talent Thursday with Sarah Siemonsma

Talent Thursday is a weekly social media livestream event that features a professional in the Sioux Falls area who speaks about why Sioux Falls is the perfect place to live out their career.

For Thursday, April 14, 2022, we caught up with Sarah Siemonsma, a Career Development Consultant with Avera Health. She shares about her role with Avera and how she helps external job applicants – as well as existing employees – navigate careers within Avera.

Talent Thursday is held weekly on Thursdays at 3 p.m. CST on the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s Facebook page. Follow here: https://www.facebook.com/developsf.

 

Powered by:

 

Forward Sioux Falls logo

 

Forward Sioux Falls is a unique, innovative program designed to grow and improve the Sioux Falls region. Created through a joint venture between the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, we work to outline strategic initiatives to grow jobs, businesses and quality of life.