‘Big Boom’ marks 20 years as downtown development enters final stage

Dec. 1, 2025

The excitement was high on Dec. 3, 2005, as thousands gathered in parking lots and from the upper stories of downtown buildings to watch what had been billed as “The Big Boom.”

“It was a huge, huge crowd,” said Mike Cooper, who served then as the city’s director of planning and building services. “The anticipation was way up there.”

Developer Jeff Scherschligt, founder and CEO of family business Pendar Properties, acknowledges he’d done his share to build the hype.

The new owner of the decades-old Zip Feed Mill property at 300 E. Sixth St., he’d realized it was more cost-effective “to actually blow it up” versus using a wrecking ball, he said.

“So we pivoted to a fundraiser (for MS research). My daughter Sarah had recently been diagnosed with MS, and it just made for a fun event.”

A raffle determined who would press the button to set off the “big boom.” There were T-shirts and marketing efforts. Local news stations carried it live.

And then, it became a different kind of breaking news.

This week marks 20 years since the failed implosive that echoed worldwide, prompting international news coverage. People across Sioux Falls later told Scherschligt that they heard from acquaintances nationwide for the first time in decades as the footage spread.

“We saw the explosion go off, and the building just stopped,” Cooper said. “Thud.”

“I remember seeing the pigeons come flying out,” former Mayor Dave Munson said. “Then, they flew back in.”

The collective reaction was “What happened?” Cooper continued.

It ironically started to sink in that the downtown skyline had an entirely unexpected new addition.

“Then, everyone started laughing,” Munson said. “And then, Jeff’s mind started going.”

As Scherschligt remembers it, the first thing in his mind was “oh, sh**,” he said.

“But it was reassured very quickly after that by the contractor who was involved that he would be coming down to complete the demolition and there would not be any extra cost on the project. So what looked like a setback for the project turned into the positive because it created a lot of fun.”

Birthing a vision

The seeds of what would become the downtown riverfront development Cherapa Place were planted with a simple sketch.

“I saw an early depiction of an event center with commercial buildings in front of the river. I don’t even remember who created it,” Scherschligt said.

“It was just little boxes. It wasn’t anything fancy.”

The city had shown the area, owned by the Batcheller family, as a potential redevelopment site in its downtown planning. Zip Feed Mills Inc. was a family business, and at the time the tower was built in the mid-1950s, the 202-foot structure was the state’s tallest building and the world’s most modern feed mill.

By the turn of the century, though, it ceased operation.

“It was an attractive site because of its location by the river and close to downtown,” Cooper said.

The city and Raven Industries had been talking with  former Zip president Tom Batcheller “about options and how we should protect this land,” Munson said. “We said we’d get some people together to buy it. And then, Jeff jumped in.”

“I came up with the idea of why don’t we buy that and build our office out there,” said Scherschligt, who’d been looking for a new office for Howalt + McDowell Insurance.

“It was naivete on my part. I didn’t really have a lot of experience in what costs would be, and I was shocked out there looking for land downtown what the cost per square foot was versus what I felt I could buy the Zip land for, so it was a little cost-effectiveness.”

Scherschligt remembers conversations with his neighbor, Linda Barker, who was co-chairing the city’s first effort to explore the potential of a new downtown event center. She asked him to meet with the committee and share his vision.

“I sat down with (architect) Jeff Hazard, and he created this really rough-looking picture because you didn’t have the technology back then,” he said. “And the best thing was a one-page document where I said I’d do this, this and this if the city would do this, this and this. It’s just bullet points.”

He offered to purchase the land and hold it for a commercial office building with an option for part of the property to serve as a location for a downtown event center.

“The next day, Munson called, and (city attorney) Gary Colwill and Munson met and literally hammered out a basic agreement the next day,” Scherschligt said.

Then, he set out to fill the building with tenants.

CorTrust Bank was among the first to get on board.

“You know Jeff — he’s got a lot of vision,” CEO Jack Hopkins said. “He approached my father on a golf course and said: ‘Would you guys be interested in a location downtown? I’m putting together a project.’ And I think he’d heard we were nosing around for a location in or close to downtown, so we met with him, and I think we might have been the first partner that signed up to go into it.”

The bank’s branch is still located on the first floor of the original Cherapa Place office building.

“It was a vision. You were going on the east bank of the Big Sioux. There wasn’t anything there,” Hopkins said. “It was a vision to expand our downtown. We saw that the city was continuing to grow and that downtown was going to expand.”

He was on the stage when the button for the “Big Boom” was pressed.

“We started laughing. What else can you do?” he said.

Scherschligt only made it that far because the bank, as well as RAS and Sanford Health, agreed to lease space in the building, he said.

“The main impetus was people committing,” he said. “It was the Sioux Falls way. It’s how things got done.”

At City Hall, “we were amazed how fast he leased it up,” Cooper said.

“He didn’t even have it built,” Munson added. “Here was an insurance guy doing this. And he’s done a lot of good things. He’d fight for every last thing.”

Scherschligt navigated environmental and bedrock issues, Cooper said.

“He would come to City Council and say: ‘I’m doing my part. Now you have to do your part to get the greenway done. And don’t take so long,’” Cooper said with a laugh.

The city invested in the first phase of the riverfront greenway development, spanning from Sixth to Eighth streets in front of Cherapa Place.

An event center never materialized at the site, building instead attached to the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Cherapa still reflects the possibility that became reality.

“The circular drive was designed to hold buses as a drop-off point for the event center,” Scherschligt said. “It was built as a fire-resistant building so it could be attached to the event center and openings could be created anywhere. All that was preplanned.”

Final phases

CorTrust Bank opened while the upper levels of the original building were under construction.

“It was a long construction process and a big deal in Sioux Falls at the time,” Hopkins said. “The only thing that rivaled it was what was happening on the hospital campus.”

In the ensuing years, the branch “has been a great location for us,” he added. “It’s highly visible up front. Everybody knows where it’s at, and it’s a good location primarily for commercial customers, though we have a fair amount of retail traffic.”

That has increased along with the on-site population.

“We’re getting accounts with that,” Hopkins said. “It’s become almost a community unto itself, and it’s exciting to see.”

The balance of the Cherapa Place development began construction in 2021, bringing three new mixed-use buildings to the development in addition to a parking ramp and central courtyard.

The overall development includes more than 275,000 square feet of office space, along with 1,200 parking spots, including below-ground spaces.

The 10-story Bancorp building is almost full in its office space, anchored by The Bancorp, which moved its headquarters downtown for the project.

“While other locations downtown were nice, Cherapa represents the next generation of downtown Sioux Falls,” said Maria Wainwright, executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

The company recognized the developer’s vision for a beautiful, mixed-used space built for the future and designed as a place where business, community and sustainability meet, she said.

“The quality of the design, the emphasis on environmental responsibility and the sense of community the development fosters all aligned perfectly with The Bancorp’s values,” Wainwright said. “It was clear from the beginning that Cherapa wasn’t just an office space, it was an opportunity to be part of something transformative for Sioux Falls.”

The Bancorp building also includes 5,000 square feet of event space and 11 luxury condominiums, including one the Scherschligts bought themselves.

Several retailers, including Cafe Breadico, Combine and iv&co, have opened on the first floor.

The Clark and The Dakota are filled with a combined 233 mass-timber apartments and retail on the first floor.

Pomegranate Market plans to open its downtown location inside The Clark this month, while The Dakota includes fitness center SISU Fit on the main level and will add Chef Bryan Moscatello’s Nunzio’s Food Hall, his chef-driven concept HK and a new tasting room in partnership with BlackFork Farms.

“Now, it’s up to you to come support this, so these businesses succeed,” Scherschligt said.

Cherapa Place set the stage for years of downtown redevelopment, said Mayor Paul TenHaken, who also watched the failed demolition 20 years ago, “not fully realizing at the time what a historic ‘oh crap’ I had just witnessed,” he said.

“Cherapa can take credit as the cornerstone for much of that progress we have seen.” It was a catalyst in our realizing that industrial development in downtown was no longer our highest and best use of land and helped trailblaze the ‘new downtown’ that many of us enjoy today.”

As for Scherschligt, future development projects “will really depend upon my kids and what they want to take on,” he said, acknowledging that the 20 years from demolition to approaching the property’s final ribbon cuttings has been “a long, arduous process. Much longer and more difficult than I ever imagined. Let’s take a little break.”

But he barely pauses before continuing.

“But from my perch on the 10th floor, I’ve been able to look at what’s been going on in downtown Sioux Falls and what might be next,” he said.

“We’ll see. Don’t tell my wife.”

Boom celebrations

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Big Boom, several Cherapa Place retailers have special offers in place:

• Toast the big event at Highball, 440 E. Eighth St., with the specialty cocktail “Boom.” It’s a mix of gin, sherry honey syrup, lemon juice and ginger beer. Or sample the “No Bang” mocktail – the same recipe with nonalcoholic gin.
• Cafe Breadico inside The Bancorp building at 345 N. Reid Place is offering two half-sandwich and soup combos for $20.
• Apparel, accessory and home furnishings store Combine is offering 20 percent off the entire store. Find it in the Bancorp building at 345 N. Reid Place.
• Rivage Oak Kitchen, located in the original Cherapa Apex building, is featuring a $10 cosmopolitan all week. Plus on “Boom” day Dec. 3, celebrate with complimentary appetizers and desserts from 4 to 7 p.m.
• Stop by SISU Fit all week and enjoy 20 percent of all memberships, supplements and retail items. Plus, Britta’s “Boom” Camp will get your weekend off to a great start at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 6. It’s open to both members and nonmembers.
• And finally, shop the 605 Made Holiday Market in the lower-level parking garage of Cherapa Apex from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and receive a free reusable bag with purchase from future Cherapa Place grocer Pomegranate Market while supplies last.

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