Sanford Sports Complex Master Plan
Sioux Falls, SD | Sports + Recreation
Overview
ISG led master planning efforts of Sanford Health’s 427-acre sports complex with the goal of establishing a framework that would guide strategic growth while emphasizing access, education, economic development, and urban design best practices to transform the complex into a unique, multi-use live, work, play destination.
Opportunity
As a leading healthcare provider in the Midwest, Sanford Health seized an opportunity to further promote their mission of health and wellness through continued development of their 427-acres Sports Complex in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. With the goal of creating a destination complex appealing to athletes, businesses, and the surrounding community, master planning efforts created a strategic framework plan and development guidelines to ensure a vibrant, dense, mixed-use, and walkable development would emerge over time.
Solution
Stakeholder Engagement + Master Plan
Integral to the planning process was engaging Sanford Health staff, local business owners, and the community to fully understand what would make Sanford Sports Complex an all-encompassing multi-use destination. Upon obtaining the desired programmatic elements, project team members categorized themes to curate an urban experience and to balance the wants, needs, and desires of the end users. Thorough background research to understand existing opportunities and site constraints was conducted to ensure the right designations were in place to support plan recommendations.
To facilitate balanced growth, capitalize on existing facilities and infrastructure, and maximize usable space within and adjacent to the site, land use neighborhoods were developed as a way to organize program adjacencies and to ensure synergies between uses. Allowing for flexibility over time, and to ensure urban design best practices are followed, development guidelines for each of the land uses were created to guide and influence new additions to the complex maximizing each site’s value and usage. Additionally, framework plans for multi-modal transportation, enhanced pedestrian networks, and open space typologies accompany the development guidelines in an effort to create a welcoming, pedestrian-oriented complex.
To help guide development over the coming years, project phasing and prioritization aims to ensure that building and site improvements are happening in tandem, while simultaneously creating the least amount of disturbance across the site. Project phasing provided further guidance by outlining projects that can be developed independently, others that would need to be developed together, and which additions to the complex would need careful coordination with adjacent landowners and public agencies.