Things are developing near 12th Street and I-29

Story courtesy of Keloland.com

There’s a big pile of gravel on the land, which is a reminder of the once bustling concrete plant on the former Gage Brothers property near the intersection of 12th Street and Interstate 29.

But the gravel is also how new owners are using the past to build for the future, which is now called Crossroads.

“…in the process we crushed broken concrete, piled it up and crushed it into road gravel,” Jim Soukup, who is a co-owner of the property, said.

Soukup estimated 50,000 tons of gravel was produced. Much of it was used on site to build streets and for site preparation. Some of it was taken for use at other construction sites.

The remaining pile sits across the street from what is the first visible upward construction at the site. It’s a new Northern Tool and Equipment building.

“That should be opening in the spring,” Soukup said.

Northern Tool and Equipment will move from its 2601 S. Louise Avenue location. The business sells and repairs tools and other equipment.

Next in line is a Silverstar car wash, Soukup said.

The owners are also busy building ponds and raising the grade on the property. It’s work Soukup said they didn’t anticipate doing as quickly as they are now.

“The demand and the interest in the property is quite a lot higher than we anticipated,” Soukup said.

“It’s the traffic count,” Raquel Blount said of why there is so much interest in the property.

Blount, of Lloyd Companies, said the traffic count at the intersection of 12th Street and I-29 is the highest count in Sioux Falls.

The 24-hour average daily traffic count this year to the west of the 12th Street and I-29 interchange is 35,780, said Heath Hoftiezer, a traffic operations engineer with the city. The count to east of the interchange is 43,843.

The annual traffic counts for northbound and southbound traffic on I-29 north of the 12th Street exit were 57,610 in 2020, according to the South Dakota Department of Transportation. The number for the I-29 south of the 12th Street exit are 60,300 in 2020, according to the SDDOT.

The ADT so far for 2021 on the northbound offramp is 9,628 and 6,193 for the onramp. The ADT so far for 2021 southbound offramp is 5,670 and onramp is 8,947.

Restaurants, hotels and other businesses have inquired about the property, Blount said.

Blount said there will be two more closings for commercial businesses in December and January.