There are clear signs of progress on the downtown Rapid City skyline.
Block 5, Lloyd Cos. 10-story mixed use development along Saint Joseph Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, is going vertical.
“You’ll see multiple cranes on the site this fall as this project really starts to take shape,” vice president of development Luke Jessen said. “It’s an exciting moment for any major project and definitely for one that Rapid City has been awaiting for a long time. Our construction team at Lloyd Companies along with many subcontractors have been hard at work since breaking ground this spring, and it shows.”
Block 5 includes Rapid City’s first new downtown hotel in more than 30 years -- a 117-room Hyatt Place Hotel with event space. The development also will bring 131 rental apartments, 7,000 square feet of commercial retail space, as well as a 330-stall parking ramp, to the downtown area.
Over the past several months, the Lloyd Construction team and many subcontractors have been busy removing the existing parking lot, installing underground utilities, removing the overhead power lines in the alleyway, as well as driving 640 deep-earth, steel pipe pilings to support the foundation of the building.
“The underground work is wrapped up and the team is focused on vertical progress,” Jessen said. “Precast erection is off to a fantastic start.”
The eastern stair-tower as well as the beginnings of the parking ramp are now visible on site. The precast concrete teams will continue to work through the end of the year to complete the parking ramp, convention space, as well as the first five floors of the tower.
“The team will set an average of 24 truckloads of precast per day for the next several months,” Jessen said. “There will be brief road impacts as we experience various milestones on the site, and we’ll be keeping the community well informed of those.”
Garage precast installation is expected to be through level seven by the end of October, with tower precast installation through level five scheduled to be done by mid-December.
The garage will be substantially completed by late winter of 2024, though public use won’t begin until early 2025.
Framing and installation of levels five through 10 as well as the roof of the tower are scheduled to begin in mid-November and last until mid-summer 2024.
Following precast, the remaining floors of the tower will be framed with panelized light-gauge steel to complete the multifamily portion of the project. Exterior finishes and interior work will start in 2024 and continue through the project’s completion in the spring of 2025.
“We appreciate the public’s patience as we work to minimize construction impacts,” Jessen said. “We know Rapid City shares in our excitement as Block 5 becomes a reality and we look forward to sharing the progress here in the months ahead.”