BOX
ELDER BUILDIN BOOMS
Rapid City Journal
Sunday March 23rd, 2008
By: Dan Daly
BOX ELDER -- New residential
subdivisions springing up around the
edges of Box Elder have turned the city
into one of the fastest growing
communities in the Rapid City area.
In fact, in February, Box Elder issued
more residential building permits than
Rapid City or Pennington County.
Box Elder issued 17 residential building
permits in February. Rapid City issued
13, and Pennington County issued 11,
according to permit records.
New homes are under construction in
Thunder Plains, Prairie View Estates,
Stealth, Creekside and the Northern
Lights subdivisions, all within the city
limits of Box Elder. And dirt work is
under way on the new Cheyenne Pass
subdivision just west of Radar Hill
Road.
"We're doing a lot of building," John
Dodds said. "It's really been decent
here."
Dodds owns Dodds Construction. On
Thursday, he was helping his son, Cory
Dodds, owner of Accurate Building, put
up roof trusses on a new house in the
Prairie View Estates subdivision.
He said both he and his son have
concentrated on building and selling
homes in the Box Elder area in recent
years. Dodds said he just finished one
house, which is for sale, and he's soon
starting two more.
Box Elder's recent growth can be
attributed to lower-priced land,
proximity to Rapid City and increasing
employment at Ellsworth Air Force Base.
Last fall, the Air Force cut the ribbon
on its new Financial Services Center, a
facility that will centralize the
handling of pay vouchers, travel
vouchers and other paperwork for all of
the Air Force. Later, a 24-hour call
center will be added to the facility.
The center will eventually employ as
many as 775 military and civilian
workers.
Center personnel are among those buying
new homes in Box Elder, said Glen Kane,
a developer and president of Box Elder
Economic Development. In addition, he
said, the city has been aggressive in
courting new development.
"A lot has to do with the fact that
there's a shift in thinking in Box
Elder," Kane said. "Builders like it
because government entities are easy to
deal with. ... They are
solution-oriented people."
And Rapid City builders and developers
are taking notice of Box Elder. Mandalay
Homes, one of the largest home builders
in the Black Hills, recently started
constructing homes in Box Elder.
"We just bought lots four months ago,
and we've had quite a few sales
already," said Scott Mueller, Mandalay
president. "It's a new market for us. We
saw that other builders were doing well
there, so we decided to join them."
Developer Doyle Estes, who is creating
the Northern Lights subdivision just
east of Elk Vale Road, said he has sold
five lots in his "front porch"
community. He said Kasky Homes has
agreed to buy 52 lots and will be the
exclusive builder.
Northern Lights is an unusual project in
that each home will have an alley, with
garages in back and big front porches up
front.
The 240-acre development is designed for
600 homes and 140 townhouses.
By population, Box Elder is much smaller
than Rapid City. The Census Bureau
estimates Box Elder's population at
3,078 in 2006, compared with Rapid
City's 62,715 that year.
The fact that Box Elder is outbuilding
Rapid City can be attributed in part to
the slowdown in Rapid City construction.
In February 2006, for example, Rapid
City issued 28 building residential
permits, more than twice the number
issued last month. In 2006, more than
300 new homes were built in Rapid City.
Kane believes there is enough
developable land for another 3,000 home
sites inside the city of Box Elder. With
that many homes, and Box Elder's
proximity to Interstate 90, commercial
development will likely follow, Kane
said.
Exit 67, built a few years ago to move
commerce out of Ellsworth's flight path,
remains undeveloped. Kane believes that
will change. "We're just waiting for
someone to pull the trigger," he said.
Can the city of Box Elder keep up with
the water, sewer and infrastructure
needs of the growing community? "There
were concerns, but we are overcoming
those," Kane said. The city has been
taking steps to ensure it can provide
those services, he said.
And Box Elder is hardly a boomtown, he
said. Other parts of the country soar
higher and fall farther, but the Rapid
City area economy has always remained
stable, he said.
"After 30 years in Rapid City, I can
tell you we just don't boom," he said.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com. |
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