August 28, 2024
Urban Air, the world's largest indoor adventure park, opens a location in Sioux Falls.
While attractions vary by location, Urban Air parks typically offer more than 20 interactive activities for all ages, including trampolines, laser tag, bumper cars and climbing walls.
The indoor park plans to open in the 41st Street Mall, between Grange and West avenues, in the space that was formerly Hobby Lobby.
“This is the largest indoor entertainment option Sioux Falls has ever seen,” said Ryan Tysdal, vice president of commercial real estate for Van Buskirk Cos. “This is a completely new offering that we’ve never had in Sioux Falls.”
The 52,000-square-foot space has been listed since before 2020.
While the pandemic slowed leasing, “that’s changed dramatically in the last 24 months,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of parties tour the space. We’ve had offers ranging from furniture to entertainment to home improvement to grocery, and ultimately the entertainment concept was a great fit, and we’re excited to bring a new concept to Sioux Falls.”
Urban Air will bring a level of indoor entertainment never before seen in the city, he added.
“The owner chose Urban Air because of the strength of the concept,” Tysdal said. “We felt it was the best on the market.”
Urban Air is designed primarily for children aged 7 and over, although there is a separate area for younger children.
Attractions include an adventure centre, featuring a ropes course, a tubing playground and the Urban Air Sky Rider, a zipline-style experience.
Leap of Faith straps players into a harness as they climb to the top of a platform to take a big leap and grab onto a suspended cylinder or monkey bars.
There is also dodgeball, a Battle Beam and a Warrior course.
Earlier this year, Urban Air announced the addition of aerial adventure slides to several of its parks.
Each park also includes a fast-casual cafe and several party rooms.
Urban Air was founded in 2011 and has over 350 sites open or under development.
This year, Urban Air was ranked as the #1 entertainment franchise Entrepreneurs annual Franchise 500 list for the sixth consecutive year.
Construction is underway to prepare the Sioux Falls space for opening. A timeline for the opening has not been announced, but Tysdal estimates it could happen in the first half of next year.
“I think Sioux Falls has always had limited options for year-round recreation and facilities, and this project goes some way to filling that void,” he said. “You can’t just build new construction for these concepts. For the economics to work, it has to be an existing space. The central location was really appealing — it’s easy to get to from all parts of the city — and there’s a lot of co-location.”
The deal leaves 34,000 square feet remaining in the 41st Street mall. The space, where Fareway was located, is essentially the last vacant big-box space in the area other than the former Sears, Tysdal said.
“We are currently in discussions with several different retailers, both local and national,” he said.
