SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The proposed Riverline District is set to host additional discussions on the project. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken gave an update on the Riverline District
The mayor gave a preview of a Johnson Consulting report at the One Sioux Falls media briefing on Wednesday. The study ushered in the next phase of the Riverline District project titled “Discovery and due diligence study of the convention center and arena facility” which outlines the future use of the current Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
This comes after the city recently finalized a purchase agreement for land that would be used for the proposed Riverline District. The city will close on that agreement on July 1, 2025.
TenHaken said the previous phases of studies were to determine if the district would be feasible, but now he says they have more work to do.
“So now that we’ve been assured that this does in fact work and that Sioux Falls can support this convention facility in our downtown,” TenHaken said. “Now the hard work begins, a lot of the really deep work, a lot of financial analysis, a lot of public engagement.”
TenHaken said they are hoping to see more public engagement and have many questions that will have to be answered.
“What would the public want to see, what would be their need to haves versus want to have at a facility like this, How would we transport people there, What would be a cost model, What would it cost to do some of the things that the public is asking for us to do, does the city even have the financial wherewithal to do what the public wants us to do, so still a lot of work to be done, but the next step in the process has been taken,” TenHaken said.
TenHaken said public transformational visions like the Riverline District take a long time to complete those projects. He added the current convention center was built at a time when the Sioux Falls population was 114,000. In 2050, they expect the population will be 368,000 with about 494,000 people in the Sioux Area Metro.
TenHaken said it’s too early in the process to be able to determine a cost.
“Anybody who shares a number and says I’m hearing that this will cost this or that, please send them my way because I would like to know how they got those numbers because we don’t know what we’re building, we don’t know the size of a convention center, we don’t know how big it would be, we don’t know how parking will work, we don’t know what will be in an arena or convention center. There are still so many unknowns,” TenHaken said.
The fate of the district will ultimately be up to the people when the Riverline District will be up for a public vote, but TenHaken said they wish to have all the questions answered before the matter goes to a public vote, the first question being what are we voting on?
“Are we voting on funding a convention center downtown and what at the current convention center and arena are we funding on demolishing an arena? Remodeling an arena, what are we building there? So what is the next step?” TenHaken asked.
He added that payment options for the proposed district are still unclear.
“How will we pay for it so they’re voting on how, how will we pay for this and that’s still unclear, I can tell you right now we would not have the bonding capacity as a city to just bond for a vision like this so we have to figure that out, how we would pay for this,” TenHaken said.
Councilor Rich Merkouris said in an interview from December that the city is expecting another study sometime in April that will be focused on schematic design, cost, and financing options of a potential downtown convention center.
TenHaken said he won’t be committing to a date on the public vote until they have more information.
“Just having a vote to have a vote during my time in office is not my goal,” TenHaken said. “If it has to continue to percolate and work through the next administration to see if he or she wants to continue to move this forward based on all the information we can provide them, so be it.”
The city will host a joint meeting the Events Center Complex Advisory Board and the Riverline Steering Committee will review a draft report on the opportunities for the space on Thursday, January 16 at 4:00 p.m. at the City Center, 231 N. Dakota Ave, Room 110.
