Sioux Falls’ one-of-a-kind military center looks to the future

Brian Phelps compares running the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance to writing a book unlike any other.

“The book has never been written about what we’re doing out here,” said Phelps, the executive director.

“We’re still writing this book chapter by chapter … and it’s going to be an interesting read once we get it done.”

The property at 1600 W. Russell St. has been interesting from its beginnings.

Once the eclectic concept Badlands Pawn, which combined concerts with what was envisioned as the mother-of-all pawnshops, the building sat vacant for years after founder Chuck Brennan discontinued Badlands.

It was brought back as the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance last year, with the purpose of serving veterans, active-duty military service members and the broader community.

The same week it officially opened, COVID-19 was detected in Sioux Falls. Suddenly, a building designed for people to gather in it had to put a lot on hold.

“We’re open almost two years now, and we don’t have a true snapshot of what it could be and what it should be because of the two years of pandemic and being a startup,” Phelps said.

However, crowds are coming. The Alliance averages about 95 meetings or events each month. On one day this week, there were 15 events on the calendar.

For Veterans Day, The Alliance will host a program including Gov. Kristi Noem.

“The place will be packed with people,” Phelps said.

“Customers sometimes get confused about whether they can come in. Anybody can come to The Alliance. You don’t have to be military. Even if we have a big event, we’re trying to accommodate people here.”

The rest of the schedule is eclectic. There are organizations’ meetings, social events, public events such as concerts and even weddings held in the building.

“We have corporate Christmas things coming, groups looking for meetings, and what I’m seeing is a lot of people and organizations that are tired and frustrated and don’t know what their future is, but they want to get back to being able to celebrate and have fun and get back together,” Phelps said. “So I see groups that haven’t met in a long time coming, and they just want to have some time together.”

The Alliance includes veterans, led by the American Legion and VFW, active-duty military service members and their families, civilians, elected officials, business leaders and other individuals and resources from the Sioux Falls community and around South Dakota.

An important element of the model is connecting veterans with available support services, which Phelps said is working.

“Things are happening. We are truly saving lives,” he said. “I’ve had veterans come in and thank us for the help, so things are working.”

The Alliance is nearing 10,000 members and draws about 5,000 people monthly not counting large groups and public events.

Its on-site restaurant, The Patriot Grill, is popular with the lunch crowd of workers in the area and is “good old American food,” Phelps said, adding the kitchen manager came from Red Lobster and has brought more seafood options.

“The kitchen has good flavor, and we’ve made great progress in our food and get compliments all the time,” he said. “We don’t do a lot of advertising primarily because some days we’re at capacity and the next we’ve got lots of room.”

There’s also a coffee shop, Impact Coffee, which features South Dakota-roasted beans with net proceeds used to support active-duty military members and veterans.

“We’re grinding the beans and everything,” Phelps said, adding it doesn’t open until 11 a.m., but “eventually we’d love to do breakfast. I couldn’t find staff to do it; that’s a whole other dimension.”

The Military Heritage Theater is set up to play military-themed movies on demand in a former radio station.

What’s next?

Going forward, the vision is to add a museum within the building and ramp up veterans services, especially in health care, which have been limited because of the pandemic’s demands on the health care field, Phelps said.

“And I’m talking with the public universities and tech schools about having an educational resource out here where people could sign up for classes, get tuition assistance, take classes and have that type of resource,” he said.

“One of my struggles is predicting the future, with the labor shortage, the food shortage, COVID is still an issue out there … (but) we’re trying to remain the place for things to happen and not an organization that puts on things. Part of our mission is to help these veterans groups. We want to help them grow.”