Chasers owner cheers as final stretch of Ellis Road reopens

Aug. 16, 2019

Judy Swearingen will be a very happy woman tonight.

Swearingen, who owns Chasers Food & Spirits on West 12th Street with her husband, Mick, has been anxiously awaiting the reopening of Ellis Road.

That’s expected to happen at 5:30 p.m., said John Osman, project manager for the city of Sioux Falls. One lane of traffic in each direction will be open between 12th and 26th streets while crews do cleanup, restoration and work near the curbs for the next few weeks.

“We are pretty excited. I’ve been holding my breath for almost two years,” Swearingen said, acknowledging that she’s thrilled the city improved the road even though it slowed sales.

In the spring of 2018, crews from T&R Contracting started the $12.2 million project of rebuilding the two-lane rural road on the west edge of Sioux Falls into an urban four-lane street with turn lanes. The work spanned Ellis from 22nd to 41st streets, but the road was closed just south of 12th Street. The city hoped to have the roadway reopened by winter, but only the stretch from 26th to 41st was completed because of weather-related delays. Road crews also battled a wet spring and summer to finish the final section.

“It felt like we were in a dark hole,” Swearingen said. “It closed off the main access for all of those houses behind us. … We’re like their neighborhood Applebee’s.”

For the grill side of the business, the top three menu items are Indian tacos, chislic and hamburgers, she said. The bar is known for karaoke nights and its leagues for sand volleyball, billiards and darts.

The Swearingens have owned Chasers for 16 years, so they’ve watched the west-side neighborhoods grow up around them. Over that time, they’ve been fortunate to establish a loyal customer base, she said. “But I know if it were me, I wouldn’t take that extra time to go there as much.”

To encourage customers to take the detour to reach Chasers, the couple slashed prices for the nightly dinner specials and promoted the weekly progressive cash drawing.

Swearingen expects to keep those specials in place.

A car show that already had been scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the bar and grill will be a fitting celebration for the reopening of the road.

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Chasers owner cheers as final stretch of Ellis Road reopens

The final stretch of Ellis Road on the west side of Sioux Falls is expected to reopen at 5:30 tonight.

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