Sept. 18, 2019

This is a rare find: a newly built home on 8 acres near Tomar Park in south-central Sioux Falls with exceptional design and craftsmanship.

It’s one of two featured homes on the Fall Parade of Homes, which concludes this weekend.

And it takes a shuttle ride from 4201 S. Minnesota Ave. past Tomar Park and up a couple of hills to get there.

But it’s worth it.

“The biggest thing was not to mess up the natural beauty of it. This house was all built on views and focal points and bringing the outside in,” said designer Jesse Deffenbaugh, owner of 4D Design + Consulting.

His father, Dudley’s, business, Deffenbaugh Homes, built the 5,800-square-foot home.

“The main consideration was to have a somewhat conservative front elevation and really nestle it in the native bur oak trees, to give it a subtle appearance in the front and work with the existing topography,” Deffenbaugh said.

One step inside, though, and the wow factor hits.

 

The home features a massive open kitchen and great room, with huge windows highlighting the Big Sioux River in the backyard.

“There are a lot of different ways to arrange it with furniture,” Deffenbaugh said.

The staging for the Parade of Homes event includes two islands in the kitchen, which he said is becoming more popular.

“This is becoming a bigger trend. We’re doing another house right now that’s doing the same thing,” Deffenbaugh said. “You can sit down on a functional island for cereal or coffee, but if you have people over for entertaining, it acts as a bar.”

There’s a formal dining space as well, and multiple seating areas around the fireplace.

The master suite also reflects building trends, Deffenbaugh said.

“The bedroom is more modest in size,” he said. “Closets continue getting larger, and there’s a washer-dryer in the master suite, as well as a laundry room off the mud room.”

The master suite’s clear windows continue into the bathroom, where switchable frosted glass offers privacy when needed.

The home is set up for a large family, with six total bedrooms and an underground garage that comfortably holds six vehicles and more.

“And there’s a large family room downstairs set up as a rec room, and one bedroom is set up as a bunk bed movie room,” Deffenbaugh said.

The house is one of more than 50 homes that attendees can tour on the Fall Parade of Homes, which runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and is put on by the Home Builders Association of the Sioux Empire. For details, click here.

The other featured home is a contemporary house in the Cherry Lake Reserve neighborhood. To tour it, click below.

Through August, the city issued permits for 434 single-family houses, compared with 493 for the same time last year.

“Overall, I feel like people were a little nervous coming into the spring of this year, and weather hasn’t helped the industry in the last two years at all, so that’s obviously made people busier no matter what because you’re not able to get the amount of work done that you’d like to,” Deffenbaugh said.

“Interest rates lowered midsummer, and I feel like that has put more confidence in people in the market, so that’s good for our industry.”

In Sioux Falls, it can be a struggle to find available land, he added. Properties such as the featured home in south-central Sioux Falls are rare.

“When pieces of property like this come up, you have to take advantage of it, he said. “You kind of have to wait for them to appear, and when they appear, you have to be ready to act quickly.”

The Deffenbaughs are focused on small residential developments, he added. They are planning one called The Woods off 85th Street between Minnesota and Western avenues that will be four lots with community green space. The half-acre parcels are priced at $269,000 each. The hope is to do road work this fall and start building next year.

There has been “a ton” of interest, he said. “And it’s not even on the market.”

Award of Excellence winners

Here’s a look at the homes that were named Award of Excellence winners in the Fall Parade of Homes.

Single-family homes

• Parade Home No.  – McCoy Construction, 221 E. 14th St.
• Parade Home No. 18 – Tschetter Construction, 6604 E. 33rd St.
• Parade Home No. 19 – A-Plus Construction, 7009 E. 40th St.
• Parade Home No. 32 – NRG Homes, 505 E. Piping Rock Lane.
• Parade Home No. 35 – Allen Homes, 606 Spruce St., Harrisburg.
• Parade Home No. 50 – George Custom Homes, 9413 W. Lakeside Circle.
• Parade Home No. 52 – BH Construction & Homes, 4309 N. Knob Hill Court.

Twin homes/town homes/condos

• Parade Home No. 5 – Jarding Construction, 5501 W. 38th Place.
• Parade Home No. 48 – Allen Homes, 8206 W. Washington Place.