Editor’s note: This is the fifth part of a series looking back through the Prairie Business archives as part of our 25th anniversary celebration.
Developers mixing retail and residential, along with office space, is not a new concept. In fact, it is the norm today, but there was a time when they were often located in separate and distinct areas of a city. In this issue, we feature several projects with mixed-use spaces in our downtown revitalization feature.
/ Carrie McDermott
In the February 2017 issue of Prairie Business, a feature on the mixed-use development said it’s what the younger generation wants — neighborhoods that have all the services and amenities.
“The younger generation wants to be able to live, work and play in the same neighborhood,” Raquel Blount, vice president of commercial real estate at Lloyd Companies, said at the time. The developer had recently completed Dawley Farm Village in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It’s a 300-acre development anchored by Walmart and Target and featuring about 20 other businesses. Single family homes, condos and townhomes were built within walking distance to the shopping destination. The company also worked on the Dakota Crossing development on the south end of Sioux Falls, converting former farmland into more than 90 acres of developed space.
Grand Forks saw its south end developed in a similar fashion, the article said, with the first project being a high school. After the mall and Target were built, commercial development followed. The neighborhoods have since come together, with mixed-use buildings featuring businesses and restaurants on the lower levels and apartments above.
“When these types of developments are done correctly, you can have all the services within walking distance of your home,” Keith Lund said. Lund, who is currently president and CEO of Grand Forks Region Economic Development, was the organization’s vice president at the time.
Purposeful, self-contained, mixed-use development can make moving to a new city more attractive and create a sense of vibrancy, he said. It should work, as both cities are seeing population growth.
In the January 2017 issue, Prairie Business featured a column by Scott Stern, who was with the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development. He wrote about the growth of business in the state. A year ago, Royal Canin USA, a subsidiary of Mars, Inc., announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in North Sioux City, which was a $100 million investment. North Sioux City saw additional growth when Tennessee-based Red All Natural Burritos announced its expansion into the state. Cooperative Ag Processing Inc. celebrated the expansion of its soybean crushing facility in Aberdeen, where it processed 45 million bushels of soybeans annually, creating approximately 50 jobs.
These announcements were made possible by the hard work of the economic development team, which continuously worked with community and business leaders on those and other projects and initiatives that helped make doing business in the state possible, Stern said.
State support for business continues to help fuel the region’s economic growth, which is exciting for affected communities and the tri-state area as a whole.
Carrie McDermott joined Prairie Business magazine in March 2023. She covers business industry trends in North Dakota, South Dakota and west-central Minnesota. Email address: cmcdermott@prairiebusinessmagazine.com.
