SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The tallest building in South Dakota will come tumbling down Saturday, and developers are planning a party for the demolition event.
The 202-foot Zip Feed Mills tower in downtown Sioux Falls will be demolished Saturday to make way for a $15 million office and retail center, and maybe a new events center.
And everyone is invited. Zip City Partners, which owns the building and surrounding property, will turn the demolition into a celebration and fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
"People are like kids when it comes to this stuff," said Jeff Scherschligt, president of Howalt-McDowell Insurance Inc. "It's all to raise money for a good cause but also to have fun."
Zip City Partners, a partnership between Howalt-McDowell and Raven Industries Inc., will offer VIP seating and sell $1 raffle tickets for the chance to trigger the demolition. Tickets will go on sale today.
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Zip Feed Mills tower
Scherschligt hopes to raise between $50,000 to $100,000 for the MS Society. His youngest daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year.
Frattalone Companies of St. Paul, Minn., and blasting specialist Dykon Explosive Demolition of Tulsa, Okla., will demolish the old tower at a cost of $500,000.
"We're just going to trip this thing like a tree and bring it down like a tree," as opposed to imploding, said Dykon president Jim Redyke. "These structures don't lend themselves to laying straight down in a heap."
Redyke said workers will put explosives at the base of the building to cut a notch out of the bottom, causing it to fall on its side toward the east.
There should be enough clearance for the building to fall toward the railroad tracks, Redyke said.
Bob Smallfoot, president of nearby Kilian Community College, is concerned about the building's demolition and its proximity to the college's buildings.
"I'm going to be concerned that our building is safe in the process," Smallfoot said. "We have a bunch of questions."
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But Scherschligt said there will be no danger to nearby buildings, and the demolition is being monitored for the safety of nearby buildings.
Dan Statema, with Main Street Sioux Falls Inc., said the event symbolizes a new era downtown.
"The fact that the tower is coming down at all is indicative of the amount of success we're seeing downtown," he said.
The tower opened in 1953 and its electric control system for mixing feed made it one of the most modern mills of its time, according to V. Ronald Nelson, who helped develop the system.
The system allowed the mill to mix different feeds, something most mills weren't able to do, Nelson said.
Despite his ties with the building, he's ready to see it demolished.
"I can see it's served its purpose," Nelson said.
