Report details options for converting Convention Center, Arena to recreation, play spaces

It’s possible to turn the Sioux Falls Convention Center and Sioux Falls Arena into recreational sport courts, climbing facilities and indoor playgrounds.

That’s the conclusion of a report commissioned as part of the city’s broader vision to relocate convention space to downtown Sioux Falls and repurpose existing facilities at the Denny Sanford Premier Center campus.

“The intention was really to get our arms around the condition of the existing footprint and understand the options we did have as we look at the market opportunity for a downtown facility,” said Brandon Dowling, principal at Johnson Consulting.

“This helps give some understanding of what the opportunity could be in terms of any particularly repurpose, and that’s important.”

The report, prepared by Williams Architects, commissioned by Johnson Consulting, will be presented Thursday in a public meeting between the Riverline District steering committee and the Events Center Complex Advisory Board.

It concluded that repurposing the buildings would support the recommendations and goals established by the city’s 2020 Parks & Recreation System Plan, “which indicated a significant amount of indoor recreation space is needed within the Sioux Falls Parks & Recreation System to meet national standards.”

The report offered four options for repurposing both facilities, including cost estimates. The Convention Center was built in 1995, while the Arena was built in 1960.

Option 1: Convention Center renovations, Arena light renovations

This option involves upgrades to finishes and other relatively minor renovations in the Convention Center main exhibition hall to repurpose it into sport courts while still allowing for periodic convention or meeting-related use.

“At 51,500 square feet, a large number of courts fit within the hall. As is typical for gymnasium spaces, the floor would be striped for multiple game types, including basketball, pickleball and volleyball,” the report said. “Existing operable walls separate the exhibition hall into thirds and provide flexibility in utilizing the space, and additional drop-down gymnasium curtains would enhance flexibility. Basketball backstops and volleyball nets would both be ceiling-suspended and allow for quick switch-over between these sports.”

Meeting rooms would be repurposed into general programming space, and a portion of the concourse could be used to create an indoor playground while still maintaining circulation space.

In the Arena, the existing tiered seating areas would remain in place but with the retractable bleachers on the main level removed to increase usable floor space. This approach would allow for an indoor turf field large enough for five-on-five soccer. The main-level concourse space would be renovated into flex spaces supporting turf use.

The cost is estimated at $49 million.

Option 2: Convention Center remodel, Arena heavy renovations

Under this option, the concept for renovating the Convention Center would remain the same, but the Arena would see a higher level of renovation.

Existing tiered seating would be demolished to increase the amount of main-level floor space available for a larger turf field. That would accommodate seven-on-seven play as well as cross-play on two smaller fields. Like the first option, the turf periodically could be overlaid with a portable wood floor system to allow for other sports.

In this scenario, around the turf field at the upper concourse level, a new running track structure would be installed. New tiered seating would be constructed “at a much-reduced quantity to support events such as cheer and dance competitions, graduations and wrestling tournaments,” the report said. “With care, reconstruction of the tiered seating would allow for sightlines to the entire turf field surface.”

The cost estimate for this option is almost $60 million.

Option 3: Convention Center renovations, heavy Arena remodeling — vertical adventure

This options keeps the same Convention Center renovation but removes the indoor playground from that concept to focus indoor play in the repurposed Arena.

Tiered seating would be removed entirely, and the entire Arena would be remodeled to allow for several features:

• Vertical adventure ropes course
• Climbing wall
• Destination playground
• Tots playground

“Because of the existing clear height, the vertical adventure course and climbing wall could exceed 50 feet, resulting in an experience unmatched in the Sioux Falls region,” the report said.

“The destination playground could also take advantage of this height as needed. The tots playground would have less need for vertical clearance, so space beneath an existing mezzanine is utilized for this activity. The destination playground could have a controlled perimeter, potentially allowing parents to recreate in the adjacent repurposed Convention Center while their children are at the destination playground. The remainder of the Arena main level is utilized for public gathering space, concessions and other support spaces.”

Examples of play equipment that could go in an indoor facility 

Tiered seating at the Arena upper-level concourse would be removed completely in this scenario. The upper-level concourse would be remodeled into multiple rooms intended to host parties but also could serve as rooms for general programming. A walking track would be included on the mezzanine level.

The cost estimate for this option is $56.5 million.

Option 4: Convention Center renovations, Arena demolition and play area addition

With this alternative, the Convention Center would be repurposed similar to the first option. The Arena would be demolished, and an addition would be made to the northeast end of the Convention Center to allow for a larger indoor destination playground.

A future fieldhouse on the remaining property could provide 96,000 additional square feet to allow for “a much larger area of indoor turf” with a revised corridor connection to the Sheraton Hotel. The fieldhouse could host a standard football field overlaid with a soccer field suitable for high school-level play, with 300 spectator seats at the ground level.

The cost estimate for this option, not including a fieldhouse, is $39.1 million. A fieldhouse would add $63.8 million.

Big picture, “I was a little surprised at the ease of conversion of the Convention Center,” city director of finance Shawn Pritchett said. “The ability for it to be completely flexible and drop things from the ceiling but have it continue to be a multiuse facility that supports the Premier Center worked really well without massive changes.”

The consultants did not recommend one option over the others but rather gave the city information and alternatives to consider going forward.

“It shows it has the capabilities of reuse,” said Tom Poulos, CEO and managing principal of Williams Architects. “Not many people have that kind of area available to them such that they can retrofit something like that.”

The study showed the Arena’s “mechanical systems are shot, but the building envelope is in very good condition,” Pritchett said, adding “you still have a 60-year-old building that’s going to have 60-year-old building issues.”

Any recommendations for the buildings also would need to be considered within a broader plan for the campus and require more study around programming plus public input, he added.

The next phase for the Riverline District process will be a more in-depth analysis of a downtown location, looking at operations and programming, a hotel study and a financial analysis that includes both cost estimates and potential funding approaches.

That’s scheduled to be presented in the spring.

There also would be additional opportunities for public input on the concepts before anything is brought forward for a vote. No timeline has been set for that.

“We’re several years away from beginning construction,” Pritchett said.