Changes coming to 101 North Phillips Ave.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The Wells Fargo bank building has been a part of downtown Sioux Falls since 1973 — first as Northwestern National Bank, then Norwest Bank — but now some big changes are in the works.

You may not know or remember it, but in 2013, the prominent building at 101 North Phillips Avenue and the space around it was renamed to the RH Johnson Plaza. Wells Fargo remained the anchoring tenant of the space, but changes were being discussed.

“We had responded to an RFP that the city put out back in ’15, I believe it was, with enhanced parking and a whole bunch of other things,” David Shelton, a broker with Century 21 Advantage, said. “We did not win that competition and we’re pretty grateful, actually, because it gave us a chance to reimagine the block.”

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That reimagining was happening behind the scenes.

“What do we need to really complement downtown? To even maybe create a second wave of development, density, enjoyment, lifestyle, all that kind of stuff,” Shelton said.

To understand why things have been moving slowly in the redevelopment process, all you have to do is look to the bold letters still on the building. But as we told you last week on KELOLAND News, Wells Fargo is moving out.

“We needed the dominoes to start falling, right, and Wells Fargo was the first domino to fall,” Shelton said.

Wells Fargo has already moved out their corporate offices on the second floor. The first floor bank will be closing in May and then Shelton says their lease is officially up at the end of the year.

“And then we have plans or opportunities to redevelop the block,” Shelton said. “So, to add parking, residential, retail, hotel and newer office space so that we can just kind of do a major upgrade in downtown.”

The upgrade could involve upward movement.

“We are looking to go up as high as we can go up,” Shelton said. “So the FAA gave us initial height clearance to 220 feet. So that is about an 18 to 20-story tower.”

Shelton couldn’t give us specific details on the changes coming to 101 North Phillips Avenue just yet, but he said the first thing likely to go would be the parking ramp next year.

He says some things being considered for the mixed-use redevelopment include daycare space, a 5-star hotel, a high-tech parking structure and interactive video walls that could immerse people into the downtown Sculpture Walk.