Upgrading the aquatic center

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The Midco Aquatic Center is a Sioux Falls hot spot, especially on the coldest of days. This winter, the popular indoor pool complex is wrapping up work on its first major expansion project since opening in 2016.

Nicole Langdon swims laps at the Midco Aquatic Center multiple times a week.

A man & his bones

“I’m training for a half Ironman, or the 70.3,” Sioux Falls swimmer Nicole Langdon said.

The triathlon includes a 1.2-mile swim, and Langdon plans to be prepared. Her training sessions at the Midco Aquatic Center start and end in the newly remodeled women’s locker room.

“When it’s busy in here, it’s great to see more room and more space, there’s more showers as well as the bathrooms are clean and organized,” Langdon said.

While the women’s locker room has been in use for a few weeks, the newly constructed men’s locker room just opened Monday.

“Been waiting patiently for them, yeah, great anticipation for the new locker rooms,” Sioux Falls swimmer Stewart Jorgensen said.

Stewart Jorgensen swims five days a week, typically during off-peak hours, but is looking forward to more square-footage in the locker room.

“It got pretty crowded when more than one person got in a small area, so it’ll be nice to be spread out,” Jorgensen said.

The $1.8-million locker room expansion project got started last July, in an effort to not only double the size of the locker rooms, but also the number and size of the actual lockers. When the complex opened in 2016, the city anticipated 80,000 to 100,000 users per year. That number hit 220,000 in 2024.

“With that increased usage, we just had so many people in there and the locker rooms were a little tight so that’s been a constant complaint that we’ve had since we opened,” Sioux Falls Parks & Recreation Park Development Specialist Tory Miedema said.

Tory Miedema is the park development specialist for Sioux Falls Parks & Recreation. He says the upgrades were on the city’s radar but were a few years out until a donor came calling.

“Jennifer Kirby approached the parks department and said ‘I’ve got a proposal for you. We’ll donate some money if you’d be willing to push this locker room expansion up the priority list’,” Miedema said.

The city said yes, and Joe & Jenny Kirby donated a half-million dollars to the project.

“I guess I was talking a lot about how tiny the locker rooms were, given how popular the facility was, and finally my husband said ‘why don’t we do something about this’,” Sioux Falls resident Jenny Kirby said.

Jenny Kirby is an avid swimmer, training at the facility five days a week, and is more than impressed with the finished product.

“I’m just amazed. I think it’s better than anyone could have hoped. It just makes such a difference, it feels like a completely different facility, there’s space, the locker rooms are bigger, there are choices where to go, it’s just wonderful, it’s a wonderful addition to one of the best places I think we have in town,” Kirby said.

Parks & Rec had hoped to see the project completed by the end of 2024, but were prepared for it to spill into ’25.

“We were actually able to host a couple huge meets here in January, February, all of that while the construction was going on without a lot of complaints and issues,” Miedema said.

The final bench seating was installed late last week, and the locker rooms are now open for business, but the project isn’t quite done.

“The big thing that we’ve got left to do as far as construction, we’re just waiting for the weather to turn so that they can do their sealants and everything on the outside, grade and clean up the area, but they actually got the sidewalk poured before our big swim meet,” Miedema said.

It’s a project made possible not only by a generous gift but the overall popularity of the facility.

“This just kind of opened everybody’s eyes and said ‘hey, you build it and they will come’,” Miedema said.

And that success is helping pave the way for new facilities across the city, including at Frank Olson Park.

“Really justified the buying of the Westside Rec Center to get some more indoor recreation and water space, and then that’s influencing the ultimate design for Frank, too,” Miedema said.

Proving that Sioux Falls isn’t afraid to make a splash.

Miedema says the new addition is also on a separate water heater, meaning less cold showers, which had been a complaint with the former setup of the locker rooms.