Sioux Falls City Hall could sell $21M downtown parking ramp to private sector

Ramp had been mired in legal disputes

Sioux Falls City Hall has been engaging in discussions with private developers interested in building at a seven-story parking ramp at 110 S. Mall Avenue. (Joe Sneve/The Dakota Scout)

A public parking ramp that took nearly a decade and more than $20 million to build in downtown Sioux Falls could be sold to a private developer.

During a Tuesday informational meeting at Carnegie Town Hall, city councilors urged Mayor Paul TenHaken’s administration to consider all options when picking a new partner to build at the Mall Avenue and 10th Street site.

And that includes selling the entirety of the seven-story ramp that opened in July 2020 and is equipped to handle up to eight additional stories. The site has gone undeveloped since a mixed-use parking ramp project fell apart in 2019.

“It’s not atypical in other communities to have a number of privately owned parking ramps that even have public access,” Councilor Greg Neitzert said after the mayor’s chief of staff, Erica Beck, asked councilors what they thought about the idea of selling the ramp.

NEWS: Lawsuits fly over carbon pipeline that would run through 18 South Dakota counties