SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — The Mercado building at 11th Street and Summit Avenue is currently being torn down. Lloyd Companies spoke about the next steps to build it up again.
The Mercado Block once housed a liquor store, restaurant, barber shop, and apartments as well as being host to the Lucky Lady Casino.
VP of Development for Lloyd, Luke Jessen, said they are just getting started with the teardown this week.
“A lot of different steps are happening all at once, making sure we get electrical and gas turned off and the building disconnected, that process should be wrapped up within a week or so,” said Jessen.
The city council last year chose to deny the renewal of off-sale liquor licenses to businesses within the plaza such as La Tapatia Mexican Restaurant and The Lucky Lady Casino, all of which are now closed.
Jessen said this is something the city has had their eyes on for a long time, knowing they want to get the area cleaned up, noting an increase in police calls to the area.
According to the Sioux Falls Police Department, officers have been dispatched to over 2,100 calls in the Lucky Lady Casino area from 2020 to 2023, when it was still in operation. They’ve seen everything from disorderly people and assaults to narcotics and stolen vehicle reports.
Jessen said they are hoping to tear the building down and build a new set a mixed use building.
“Lloyd Company is working on behalf of Southeastern Behavioral Health, they are the owners of the properties now,” Jessen said. “Their goal is to develop a mixed-use building there that will support their services as well as having residential uses on the upper level.”
They are looking to create a 3-story mixed-use building with Southeastern Behavioral Health offices on the main level and 2 levels of apartments above it.
Jessen said they are seeking assistance from the state to construct the building.
“On behalf of Southeastern we have worked to develop an application that we have submitted to the state of South Dakota for low-income housing tax credits, which will help facilitate the construction of the building,” Jessen said. “That application was submitted back in August and we hope to hear back on the status of that application from the state in November.”
During a city council meeting in August, the council approved a second hearing for rezoning the plaza from a commercial neighborhood and street car district for midtown mixed-use.
Jessen said if the application is approved it would allow them to start construction.
“It would allow us to complete the plans and keep moving forward and we would actually start construction on the new building sometime in the spring, probably around June,” said Jessen. “The site would be vacant for the remainder of the winter after demolition is complete assuming resources come into alignment and the project gets fully approved we anticipate to start in June and the project could take 12 to 14 months from that point.”
