Avera Health to build new campus in Sioux Falls

By Lisa Gibson

SIOUX FALLS — Avera Health expects to begin construction this fall on phase one of a new health campus in Sioux Falls. Phase one is estimated to cost $174 million and will include a surgical hospital and connected medical office building. The entire campus — located at 69th Street and Louise Avenue — is slated to open in 2020.

The building project is the biggest in Sioux Falls’ history, according to Avera, and will be located on an 82-acre plot. The Avera on Louise Health Campus will specialize in orthopedics, sports medicine, gastroenterology, rheumatology and internal medicine. The surgical hospital will offer a range of procedures that will include robotic surgery, as well as other new technologies and amenities. All the buildings on the campus will be connected by a multi-story commons space that will feature dining options, a gift shop, a chapel and more.

“Sioux Falls continues to grow at a rapid pace and consumers are demanding care that is more accessible,” says Jay Gravholt, Avera Health’s director of media relations. “It is estimated that by 2025, a third of the Sioux Falls population will be over 45. This is one of the reasons we felt a surgical hospital would be in great need, as well as a health campus on the southwestern side of Sioux Falls.”

More than 600 workers will participate in the two-year construction process, with an estimated payroll of almost $28 million, according to Avera. Estimates show the economic ripple effect could contribute 1,200 total jobs and $118 million.

The project’s design and construction team includes BWBR Architects of St. Paul, Journey Construction of Sioux Falls, and Garrett Peters, architect with Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center in Sioux Falls. In conjunction with the new campus, Avera McKennan will extensively renovate its main campus, according to Avera.

“This is an unflinching example of the unified, strategic effort Avera is making to enhance health services in the region by providing greater and easier access to convenient, high-end health services like orthopedics and gastroenterology,” says Dave Kapaska, regional president and CEO of Avera McKennan, in a statement. “Health care of the future must be convenient and easily accessible, so Avera is revisioning what care we deliver where.” PB