A look at what’s new, what’s being built, and what’s coming up. Including photos when possible. This is where we try to get our questions answered.
UnityPoint Clinic appears headed for January opening.
UnityPoint Health’s new UnityPoint Clinic in Dakota Dunes appears to be making good progress these days. Once open, the clinic will provide medical services convenient to residents in the Dakota Dunes and North Sioux City communities.
Located at 350 Gold Circle Drive (next to P’s Pizza House), UnityPoint Clinic – Dakota Dunes will include 7,500 square feet of space and will be home to urgent care and family medicine services. This new location will also feature specialty services initially offering foot and ankle surgery services.
Zorts is now Deuces. They are undergoing a big remodel.
People have been wondering what is going on at the site of the former Zorts Prime Time & Casino at 105 S. Derby Lane in North Sioux City. The business has been sold to Commonwealth Gamings and Holding Company, 330 N. Main Ave., #201, Sioux Falls, SD.
The owners of the company are listed as Bryant Soberg, president, of Hartford and Kirby Muilenburg, vice president, of Sioux Falls. Muilenburg also owns a 25 percent share of the Triple Crown Casino at 108 N. Military in North Sioux City. His partners are Rick McKinney, of Sioux Falls; Dave Gaspar of Sioux Falls; and Tim Stupka, of LaQuinta, CA.
According to the Uniform Alcoholic Beverage License Application Soberg and Muilenberg filed recently with the city of North Sioux City, the two men are partners with each other or other people in casinos in Sioux Falls, Brookings, Watertown and Yankton under various business names.
As for the Deuces Casino, the owners have no plans to have a restaurant in the remodeled building, according to the business manager, Cindy. The manager declined to provide her last name. She just stated that the owners were doing significant remodeling to the building’s north side and were adding on to the east side. She would not provide any more specifics.
Company is likely secure in the knowledge they’ll move into their new digs pretty soon.
Electronic Communications Inc. or ECI has a new building that’s being built on River Drive in North Sioux City. Slowly, from a bare lot to a large structure with a freshly poured concrete driveway, ECI is rising to physical prominence along the busiest street in town. Once the building is complete, the front section will be available to lease for retail businesses.
According to their web site, they have highly trained technical staff who are board-certified in physical security. their team holds certifications from the National Institute for certifications in Engineering Technologies. They have worked with some of the largest companies in gaming.
ECI offers an array of professional systems. They specialize in video security, access control, Intrusion and fire alarms, two-way radios and point of sale. They serve and monitor thousands of residential, commercial, industrial and government customers all across the United States.
ECI has offices in Bismarck, Fargo and Jamestown, ND, Las Vegas, NV, North Sioux City, SD and Minneapolis, MN. They provide integrated security systems that are tailored to their customers’ unique requirements.
Sparklight improving and interrupting service
Sparklight®, a leading broadband communications provider, began construction in May on a $12 million upgrade that it says will further increase the reliability of its high-speed internet service, while also preparing for the future connectivity needs of the Sioux City community.
“Sparklight is invested in building a future-proof network in Sioux City, designed to handle the rapidly-evolving technology needs of our residential and business customers,” said Sparklight Sioux City General Manager Mike Drahota. “We understand that families and businesses are reliant on the internet in their day-to-day lives and we are committed to providing fast, reliable and local service that our community can count on.”
The current infrastructure upgrade paves the way for faster download and upload speeds, enhanced streaming and gaming, and uninterrupted connections in multi-device homes.
“Looking to the future, we are laying the groundwork for 10 Gigabit (10G) speeds and investing in a new era of innovation that will not only further enrich the lives of our customers but contribute to the economic development of Sioux City,” said Drahota.
Delivering speed 10 times faster than today’s networks, 10G will transform the customer experience, creating new possibilities for smart cities, connected homes, and new virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Sparklight customers in the Dakota Dunes and North Sioux City area came home to find door hangers on their doorknobs this week. The door hangers were a construction notification and said that service interruptions may occur. It said, “Over the next few days, you may experience intermittent service interruptions lasting from a few minutes to a few hours.” It said the construction would take place between Nov. 13 and Nov. 30.
Covington Cottage has relaunching in South Sioux
It looks like a house a Hobbit might like. Maybe even live in. It has round doors and round windows. It also looks like it could be found in a Lord of the Rings book. You might even want to call the house . . . hobbit-like.
But you can’t.
That’s what Darwin and Maureen Knecht found after Darwin built a very hobbit-like house. A house in a hill that maybe Bilbo Baggins might have liked.
“It took me 14 months to build the house,” said Knecht. “I used Lite Forms, which are made right here in South Sioux City.”
Knecht says a lot of time, money and love went into the project.
“It’s different from a motel,” he said. “It’s got two beds, a bathroom, a fireplace and a lot of extra details you wouldn’t find in a motel.”
The Air BnB rate changes depending on the season and day of the week. That night there was a couple renting the place for $160.
Oh, and about the name. The Lord of the Rings movie people apparently own the name “Hobbit”, and anything related to its use. Therefore, when the Knechts first opened their hobbit-like house in 2021, the movie powers contacted them and told them they couldn’t use that name. Sooo, now they have changed the name to the Covington Cottage which has a connection to one of the historical predecessors of South Sioux City: Covington.
You can reserve a night in the Covington Cottage by calling (712) 635-7374. You can also reserve it online at Airbnb. The cottage is located at 419 Golf Rd., South Sioux City, NE.
The Siouxland Observer 