It’s been nearly nine months since Slowey Management, SRK Development and Dunes Realty announced that the new strip mall at 2 Rivers Drive on the eastern end of the Interstate 29 interchange in Dakota Dunes was ready for potential tenants.

The Yankton-based Slowey Management developed the Holiday Inn Express and Convention Center adjacent to the new strip mall that’s been open since 2018.

According to a story published in the Sioux City Journal on Jan. 29, 2023, the strip mall is 14,000 square feet in size and has five tenant spaces. Dakota Dunes and North Sioux City residents have watched the building and site under construction since 2021.

Although Dunes Realty broker Tim Swanson said in the January Sioux City Journal that there had been a lot of interest from potential tenants, apparently no one has been interested enough to commit to leasing space in the retail site eight months down the road.

I’ve lived in Dakota Dunes since 2017 and have noticed that Dakota Dunes has always been hot when it came to residential real estate. However, it didn’t seem to do so well on the retail end of things. A nice, upscale coffee shop came onto the first floor of one of the local bank buildings and departed about two years later. There’s one restaurant that’s attached to another hotel that is hard to determine whether is open or closed on a weekly basis. The same is true for the local convenience store.

But things appeared hopeful when Steve Slowey and company (SRK Development is a sister company to Slowey Management) built the new Holiday Inn Express and then decided to add the strip mall.

The end cap of the strip mall closest to the interstate was built in hopes of attracting a restaurant. There are windows bordering the north and west sides of that space making it an ideal site for an eatery. This would have been a nice compliment for the hotel next door and for the corporate businesses across the street to the south, like Tyson Foods.

Oops.

Perhaps the strip mall developers didn’t know that Tyson Foods was going to lay off or relocate 500 of its corporate employees working in Dakota Dunes.

Probably not.

Tyson didn’t let anyone in the Dunes, city governments of Sioux City or North Sioux City, or the state governments of South Dakota, Iowa or Nebraska know about their plans until they made their announcement in October 2022.

I suppose the developers had to keep developing at that point. It’s hard to stop a train going 90 mph, turn it around and say, “Never mind, we’re not going to build this thing.”

So keeping their chins up, the developers carried on.

I decided to see how the battle was going last week and stopped by Dunes Realty to ask broker Tim Swanson how sales were and if he had any prospects.

Swanson seemed surprised when I came for my visit. He certainly didn’t seem happy to talk to me. Closed-mouth was the best description I could provide of the strip mall salesman.

And smug. He was definitely smug when it came to what little information he would give me about a potential tenant.

“Oh there’s someone who’s interested, right now,” Swanson said with a tight grin on his face. “But I can’t tell you who. But they’re real interested, all right.”

Swanson would only say through gritted teeth that “maybe” a tenant might be in the space before Christmas.

Not exactly overwhelming evidence, or a confirmation, I thought.

So I went by the strip mall one day to see if I might find someone working there. But no such luck. The sprinklers in the back lot were running, though. Maybe that was a sign.

As I wandered around the perimeter of the property taking photos I noticed one of the doors was open and had electrical cords from one of the transformers running through it. So I decided to take a peek.

Inside there was mostly an empty, cavernous building. The cords were connected to some work lights strung through the rafters. Two metal stud walls were up, but that was it. There was no hint of any other type of construction going on in there. I took my photos and left.

I returned to my car and sat for a while, reviewing the images on my Nikon DSLR. I thought the building seemed like such a waste of money and resources. I drive by that site about every other day and have not seen any activity — inside or out — for two months. I’ve never seen a car, truck or human being around there.

Asking different business people in Dakota Dunes and North Sioux City about the slowness in getting the strip mall filled I run into shrugged shoulders and the same puzzlement I have about the project. There is one rumor that I’ve heard from a couple of people. And let me stress it’s only a rumor. It has to do with the difficulty of obtaining a liquor license for any restaurant/bar that might be interested in moving into the northwest end — the large site with all the windows. It makes sense that if a quality casual dining operation like say an Applebees, Chili’s or similar establishment they’d need a liquor license. Apparently, there are none to be had in North Sioux City right now. The casinos have them all wrapped up.

You know, I’ll bet Dakota Dunes could use a pawn shop and a Waffle House. Neither of them would require a liquor license, would they?