By Jodi Schwan

More national retail might be coming to Brookings.

The 30-acre Brookings Marketplace is envisioned as a mix of so-called junior-box stores, a convenience store, hotels, restaurants and drive-thru businesses, as well as some strip malls.

It’s located on the northeast corner of Interstate 29 and Highway 14.

“If you dig into the retail sales numbers, demographics and progressive nature of Brookings, we expected to gain a lot of interest and traction from national users,” said Reggie Kuipers of Bender Commercial Real Estate Services, who is marketing the property at the RECON national retail real estate convention in Las Vegas this week.

“This site is ripe for development with the access, traffic counts, signage and visibility off I-29 and Highway 14.”

There has been strong interest from a handful of national junior-box users, as well as strip mall tenants and standalone restaurants, Kuipers said.

“Brookings is a natural market expansion for those franchise or corporate concepts that have expanded to Sioux Falls in recent years, and we look to capitalize on those opportunities.”

Brookings also is planning a new recreation center just north of the site that should bring some synergy with the nearby Swiftel Center and Larson Ice Rink, he added.

The hope is to land a couple of retailers in the next six months and be under construction for stores or restaurants to open next spring.