28 August 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 is scheduled to open in the shopping center on 41st Street between Grange and West Avenue, in the former Hobby Lobby space.
“This is the largest indoor entertainment offering Sioux Falls has ever seen,” said Ryan Tysdal, vice president of commercial real estate at Van Buskirk Cos. “It’s a completely new offering that we’ve never had in Sioux Falls before.”
He had already offered the 4,800 square meter area for sale before 2020.
While the pandemic slowed leasing, “that’s changed drastically in the last 24 months,” he said. “We’ve had numerous parties come in to look at the space. We’ve had offers ranging from furniture to entertainment to home improvement to groceries, and ultimately the entertainment concept was a great fit, and we’re excited to bring a new concept to Sioux Falls.”
Urban Air will offer a level of indoor entertainment never seen before in the city, he added.
“The lessor chose Urban Air because of its compelling concept,” said Tysdal. “We felt it was the strongest on the market.”
Urban Air is primarily designed for children ages 7 and up, but there is also an area for younger children.
Attractions include an Adventure Hub with a high ropes course, a tube playground and the Urban Air Sky Rider, a zipline-like experience.
In Leap of Faith, players are strapped into a harness as they climb onto a platform to take a big leap and hold on to a hanging cylinder or monkey bars.
There is also dodgeball, a battle beam and a warrior course.
Earlier this year, Urban Air announced that it would be adding air 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 more than 350 locations open or under development.
This year, Urban Air was named the No. 1 entertainment franchise in Entrepreneur annual Franchise 500 list for the sixth consecutive year.
Initial construction is underway to prepare the Sioux Falls area for expansion. A timeline for opening has not been announced, but Tysdal estimates it could be in the first half of next year.
“I think historically there have been limited opportunities for year-round recreation or amenities in Sioux Falls, and this helps fill that gap,” he said. “You just can’t build new buildings for these concepts. To make it work economically, it has to be existing land. The central location was really attractive – you can get to it equally conveniently from all parts of the city – and there’s a strong co-tenancy.”
The deal leaves 34,000 square feet remaining in the 41st Street mall. The space where Fareway was located is essentially the last vacant open-plan 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.
