Councilor criticizes city's 'failure' to sell unfinished parking ramp
Simplified: Councilor Curt Soehl pressed Sioux Falls Business Development Coordinator Dustin Powers on Tuesday to share specifics on what the city is doing to sell both the unfinished parking ramp on 10th Street and the remaining parcels of the rail yard.
Why it matters
- The city's history with the parking ramp dates back to an original development agreement back in 2017, which later failed and resulted in a years-long lawsuit between the city and Legacy Developments. Six years – and a $500,000 settlement – later, the ramp sits unfinished.
- Soehl criticized the city's process for selling the property, something called a "negotiated sale process." (You can dig into how that all works here). It's the same process that's being used to sell the remaining three parcels of the downtown railyard redevelopment.
- Soehl also noted that Sioux Falls recently became the 121st largest city in the country. At that size, "we should be able to move a parking ramp," he said.
"We're sitting on a huge piece of property," Soehl said. "Nothing's going forward. Nothing's been brought to the council. I have significant issues with how we're dealing with this as a city, and at this point, I'm not sold on the process that's going forward because of the fact that we're not getting results."
What was the city's response?
Powers told Soehl that the city has had "interested parties" meeting with them about developing the ramp. It's also on the list of developable properties shared with folks looking to build something in town.
"This is one of those that we're sharing every time someone walks in the door," Powers said.
The property is listed for sale on both the city's website and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation's site.
What happens next?
Soehl said he'd like to see more frequent updates from the city.
The city has declined to release the number of developers who've expressed interest in buying the property.