At 85th & Cliff, new high school meets prospects for development

Eventually, the intersection of 85th Street and Cliff Avenue will look less like a place where urban meets rural and more like a busy city corner surrounded by development.

First, though, the intersection itself needs to be reconstructed.

Then, Harrisburg’s new Freshman Academy — and future high school — needs to open.

Both those things are on track to happen before this fall.

The city of Sioux Falls soon will close the intersection to install utilities and add a median and turn lanes.

“We define it as a neighborhood employment center,” said Kevin Smith, assistant director of planning and development services. “It’s not 41st and Minnesota, where it really developed as strip commercial. That’s not really the vision of the next generation of urban arterial (streets).”

Instead, the area likely will develop more like 85th and Western Avenue is maturing and less like the heavier commercial intersection of 85th and Minnesota Avenue, he said.

“A little bit of commercial, office, transitioning back to some multifamily — a little higher-density residential and back into twin homes and single-family residential.”

The more than $4 million project also includes new lighting, sidewalks and landscaping.

The intersection “is going to be signalized, but there’s also going to be raised medians, which will help with traffic flow and safety,” Smith said.

The plan is to complete the project by August, in time for the start of school. Because it involves a total closure, detours are coming:

• 85th Street traffic will be detoured to 69th Street at Minnesota and Southeastern avenues.
• Cliff Avenue traffic will be detoured to Minnesota Avenue at 69th and 271st streets, which is also known as County Highway 106.

The Harrisburg school is one of two under construction on the south side of Sioux Falls. A new middle school near 69th Street and Southeastern Avenue also is scheduled to open in August.

“They’re progressing nicely in both cases,” Superintendent Tim Graf said. “The classroom wings in both buildings are really moving along.”

He anticipates that the Freshman Academy will open with about 500 ninth graders. The district owns enough property to expand the building into a full high school with a full-size competition gym and performing arts center.

That will occur once each graduating class reaches about 550 to 600 students, he said.

The timeline is “really based on enrollment and not a calendar year,” he said, adding freshmen will be bused between the two buildings for school activities as needed.

Future development at the intersection likely is years out. Only the northwest corner is annexed into the city limits. The other corners still need utility service.

“I truly believe it will be a real mixed-use development, but it’s (at least) five years out,” said Reggie Kuipers, president of Bender Cos., who represents the landowners on the southeast corner.

That’s a 160-acre property he predicts will be a “highly sought-after” site.

“I would envision the land directly across the street from the school entrance … with access off of Cliff is going to see some very interested retail on the frontage, and you’re just going to see a full mixed-use development,” Kuipers said.

The area also has potential for future city facilities such as a park, fire station or library, he said.

Additionally, just to the north, Veterans Parkway will intersect with Cliff, creating a larger commercial intersection and also driving the need to get 85th and Cliff done now.

“There’s a lot of infrastructure needed in the near future,” Smith said. “But I don’t know that you’re going to see immediate development around 85th and Cliff just because of the road being here. There’s other utilities we need to get in place to facilitate and support development.”

To learn more

If you’re impacted by the upcoming construction project, the city of Sioux Falls will hold a public open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, March 20, at Emmaus Road Church, 6101 S. Charger Circle, to provide information on the reconstruction of the intersection and impact to traffic.

Additional information about the project is available at siouxfalls.org/85th-cliff-update.

And here’s an early look at the detour routes: