The horns are a tootin’ and the noisy makers are out;

Sioux Falls set a record by surpassing $1 billion in building activity last year, setting the mark in late November. This year, the city hit $1 billion in less than seven months.

I have argued for years that I while this is a good thing, we really need a realistic breakdown.

I would first start with a simple breakdown;

• 100% Private investment vs. Institutional & Public

I couldn’t even guess what that would be, but I think private is probably the bigger percentage

I would also like to see this breakdown;

• Density vs. New development

In other words what percentage is building and rebuilding in our core and established neighborhoods and what is new land acquisition?

A more detailed breakdown would be;

• Public (city, state, county, school, federal, military, etc.)

• Institutional (Hospitals, non-profits, churches, etc.)

• Multi-Housing (Apartments, duplexes, etc.)

• Single family residential

• Commercial (100% private investment)

• Commercial (partial public investment like tax rebates and TIFs)

I think this data is important because it gives us a big picture of how we are breaking these records. I have asked for this data for years and never get anywhere. I did download the building permit spreadsheet from 2021 and tried to break it down but it was nearly impossible since many developers have multiple mysterious LLCs they are using for the permitting.

If the Planning Department wants to really boast about the permits, why not give us a picture of what that looks like.

4 Thoughts on “Sioux Falls Building Permits need Clarity

  1. rufusx on July 25, 2022 at 4:42 pm said:

    I can tell you one thing for certain. Density is increasing out on the edges. Gigantic apartment complexes on the East side and scads of townhomes and duplexes and smaller apartments on the West.

  2. Fear & Loathing in Sioux Falls on July 25, 2022 at 10:05 pm said:

    Transparency? What do you think this is, a democracy?

  3. Further Fear & Loathing on July 26, 2022 at 9:34 am said:

    “… Gigantic apartment complexes on the East side … ”

    In my day, that was called Soviet housing. #EasternBloc
    #WarsawPact

  4. D@ily Spin on July 26, 2022 at 10:02 am said:

    There’s an obvious slowdown in the economy. Interest rates are higher. Amazon and others have cut back on expansion plans here. You’ll notice less activity on apartment construction along Veterans Parkway. Developers must be impacted. Will there be a lot of half finished projects?

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