April 19, 2022

The building that includes longtime bar and dance club Club David soon will be under new ownership.

The multistory property at 212 W. 10th St. is under contract by Ballard Building LLC, the ownership group that includes Parker’s Bistro — which is in the historic Ballard Building.

“We’re excited about the possibilities,” owner Stacy Newcomb said. “It’s a really neat space, so we’re super excited about that and just the prospects of getting another historic building back up and running in a way that fits the downtown and where it’s headed today.”

The building was built in three stages from the west beginning in the late 1880s and continuing into the 1940s. The original freight elevator is still there, and the basement is being used for storage.

The main floor has a wraparound bar, restrooms, kitchen, dance floor and stage — plus the iconic replica David statue.

The second floor has another bar, game room and more restrooms. A second-level patio offers about 1,600 square feet of outdoor space.

A third floor is being used for storage but could be converted to another use.

Newcomb said she anticipates a variety of exterior and interior renovations, including restoring the facade to its historic look and bringing back a number of windows.

“I’m a big preservationist, so it’s really important to be able to do that,” she said.

“It’s got some great history. … It’s just a matter of really getting in there and having a chance to design it. We haven’t hired a design team yet to help us because we didn’t know if we’d have the project for sure, so we only took it so far. We have some architectural drawings and some design work to do.”

The deal is scheduled to close before the end of the month.

The building will continue to operate, and “things will not change right away,” she added. “It’ll take us awhile, and part of that is we can’t even get the pieces for the facade or windows made and delivered. It takes six months, so it will be a longer process.”

The building was renovated about 15 years ago when it changed ownership. In the more than three years it has been on the market, it attracted a wide variety of interest, said Scott Blount, a commercial real estate broker with Lloyd Cos., who represented it.

“I showed it to a ton of people, and all had different ideas,” he said. “Convert it to condos, use it for a marketing firm, all sorts of things.”

But selling the building to Newcomb was especially rewarding, he said. The two have known each other for more than 40 years since they waited tables together at The Pressmasters in Vermilion.

“I always had a great deal of respect for her,” Blount said. “She’s been a very good friend, and it’s very gratifying for me to help her grow her business empire by being the broker of record in the transaction.”

When the current ownership redid the building 15 years ago, “they did a lot of nice work,” Newcomb said. “The current owner is just ready to retire and knows it needs invigoration, and that’s what we’re trying to do, respectfully, for the people who work there and anyone who might want to stay. We’re taking our time and tiptoeing to see the lay of the land. But I know we’ll have food added, and we will concentrate on historic preservation.”

Newcomb and her family also are the owners of Parker’s Bistro, where they announced a renovation and expansion last month. They now are the full owners of Icon Events and added DaDa Gastropub in 2020.

“We’ve been kind of busy the last few years,” she acknowledged, adding that DaDa is doing well, and the plan is to continue to incorporate later-night activity on weekends, though a little less intense than the space was known for years ago.

“I like good music and fun but don’t need to have crazy stuff going on. That’s not our goal,” she said. “Our goal is to be a restaurant company with some fun in all our places.”

At Club David, expect to see “a third type of cuisine, a third approach, just having a few different options in Sioux Falls is what we’re all about,” she continued.

“But with food as a main component, if not the main component, because that’s just what we do … good service and good product and good food.”

Parker’s Bistro expansion to include full bar, additional seating