City selects firm for Falls Park master plan

A winner has been named for the Falls Park design competition, which drew interest from multiple firms.

Confluence will lead the park’s master plan process, the city announced today.

The firm, which has offices in nine cities including Sioux Falls, submitted the winning vision for the park – a detailed look at how it could further develop on all sides and in its core that includes opportunity for private redevelopment adjacent to the park.

“We’re super excited about it,” senior principal Jon Jacobson said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to get to do this for real over the course of the next year and see what comes out of it.”

The goal of the competition was to:

• Generate big ideas to meet the growing needs of the community.
• Investigate new opportunities.
• Build upon the existing features and spaces of the park.
• Examine all types of movement and connect the diverse opportunities located within the park and surrounding neighborhoods.

As part of the process, elements of the proposals that were not selected could still be incorporated into the final master plan. That master plan will need to be approved by the park board and the City Council.

The other teams that submitted were:

• Asakura Robinson & 106 Group
• ISG & Norman Engineering
• RDG & HDR
• Stockwell Engineers, JLG and OJB

After two days of presentations and addressing questions, a committee scored the proposals and selected Confluence as the winning design team. The scoring committee was comprised of individuals with a diverse background of expertise and included city staff, elected and appointed officials, and community representatives, the city said in a statement.

“Falls Park is our city’s namesake, our flagship park and anchors the north end of our city’s booming downtown. That is why it was important to conduct this intensive design competition to create a comprehensive vision for Falls Park,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.  “This process has allowed us to dream big on how we will continue to make Sioux Falls an even more attractive place to live, work and play.”

Scoring committee members included:

• Ann Nachtigal, Parks and Recreation board member
• Greg Neitzert, City Council member
• Greg Harrell, citizen
• Samuel Gezehagne, citizen
• Don Kearney, director of Parks and Recreation
• Jeff Eckhoff, director of Planning and Building Services
• Mark Cotter, director of Public Works
• Shawn Pritchett, director of Finance

“This is the first time we have used a design competition to select a design team, and we are really happy how the process worked. The number of ideas that were generated by the design teams will be instrumental in shaping the vision for Falls Park for many years to come,” Kearney said.