State won't sign off on Sioux Falls removing homes from historic district

City historic preservation board OKs demolition after conditions worsened

A cluster of century-old homes in a central Sioux Falls historic district is coming down despite opposition from the state historical preservation office.

The Sioux Falls City Council this week authorized the demolition of four rundown houses in the Sherman Historic District, deeming the structures near 19th Street and Dakota Avenue too costly to rehabilitate.

The properties are included in plans for a broader neighborhood redevelopment project that would bring much-needed housing stock to the city’s core. The decision to tear down the dilapidated houses that sit on the four lots comes with the blessing of both nearby homeowners and the city’s once-reluctant historical preservation board. However, because demolition follows years of neglect by the property owner — Johnson Properties LLC — the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office won’t endorse removing the homes — all built in the early 1900s — from the historic district.

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