Photo by Andy Greenman
Downtown living, the next step to a vibrant city center
KC LOFTS BY MAIN STREET SQUARE
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idea was new. It was hard to get support ew residents have flocked to Rapid because the idea of luxury downtown living City over the past twelve months was unheard of. Sure, we had small studio just as the lack of housing options apartments available downtown but they were have become a frequent topic of 450 square feet. We were changing people’s conversation. With an expected wave of new ideas of what downtown living looked like,” demand in conjunction with the arrival of stated Senftner. the B-21 fleet at Ellsworth Air Force Base By 2019, Rapid City and the efforts of economic had still not seen much development and recruitment in the expansion of by regional and state officials, "It was hard to get support progress downtown living other than our housing needs at all levels South Dakota Mines student of income has become critical. because the idea of luxury housing. The heartbeat of This includes the growing downtown living was Rapid City remained vibrant desire for more and diverse unheard of. " with visitors. A steady downtown options. - Dan Senftner stream of tourists continued The idea of living in our President of Destination Rapid City city’s urban core is not new. to venture downtown, in large part to Main Street Dan Senftner, President of Destination Rapid City, began Square that had become our community’s anchor. But after sundown, the adaptive re-use of warehouse space into it became a ghost town. Still, visionaries were luxury lofts above retail stores on St. Joseph working behind the scenes to expand on what Street in 2008. The idea was so “outside of Senftner had started long before. the box,” Dan faced an uphill battle getting financing to realize his vision. “Banks in the Local and statewide developers such as Legacy Development, Dream Design area had no blueprint to work from as this elevaterapidcity.com 35
