Block 5 project parking garage starts to take shape

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - A project that will change the way downtown Rapid City looks has started taking form. Now people can see the stairwell in place for the parking structure of a new building on the 500 block of Saint Joseph Street.

The Block 5 project broke ground earlier this year, and is expected to be 10 stories tall, with retail space, a convention center, apartments and hotel rooms. It was originally set to include underground parking, but after extensive research, that doesn’t seem to be a viable option.

“Ultimately it came down to the water table was just too high to effectively construct underground parking. It’s possible, but you’d have to continually pump water out of the bottom of the parking garage, and anytime there were rain events, there’s a significant risk of flooding,” said Luke Jessen, vice president of development for Lloyd Companies.

The parking ramp entrance will be on the main level, however, the majority of the parking spaces will be located above the street-level entrance. When work is done on the stair tower for the garage, the actual building will start taking shape.

“And then you’ll start to see columns going up and building off from there, and then they’ll be setting floor across that. So that will start the floor structure of the parking ramp itself, which is about 6 levels high. Then the precast will work its way across the parking ramp to the west, and then from there it will transition to the actual building itself,” continued Jessen.

According to Jessen, the project is about seven days behind schedule, but he is hoping for good weather so they can finish on time.

Copyright 2023 KOTA. All rights reserved.