The East Side of Sioux Falls Is About to Change Fast

The east side of Sioux Falls is about to get a lot more convenient. On October 6, 2026, developers hold the formal groundbreaking for Foss Fields, the first major new retail development on the city's east side in nearly 20 years, and it brings Hobby Lobby, Sierra, Five Below, Ross Dress for Less, and Petco to the corner of East 6th Street and Veterans Parkway. All around that corner, new apartments and single-family neighborhoods are going up along the Veterans Parkway corridor. I'm Jennifer Krosch, a Realtor with eXp Realty, and I watch these projects closely because they tell you where a part of town is headed before the prices do.

What is Foss Fields, and why does it matter?

Foss Fields is a roughly 300-acre master-planned development at the southwest corner of East 6th Street and Veterans Parkway, also known as Highway 100. The name is a good local story: it honors Joe Foss, the World War II fighter ace, Medal of Honor recipient, and former South Dakota governor who grew up in a farmhouse on the site, which once included his farm airstrip. Developer C-Lemme Cos. and leasing agent Tysdal Commercial have had the project in planning for about two decades.

The significance is simple. This is the first major new retail development on the east side of Sioux Falls in nearly 20 years, and it is billed as a northward expansion of the Dawley Farm Village shopping area just to the south. For anyone who has watched the east side grow into one of the busiest parts of the metro, that is a meaningful milestone. A part of town that has long been mostly homes and commutes is finally getting a full-service shopping destination of its own.

What is actually opening there?

The first phase is a roughly 118,500-square-foot power center anchored by five national tenants. Hobby Lobby is the anchor, a roughly 55,000-square-foot store that will be its second in Sioux Falls; the company has confirmed an opening in fall 2027 and expects to hire 30 to 50 employees. Sierra, a TJX brand that sells outdoor gear and apparel, will open its first Sioux Falls store here. Five Below, Ross Dress for Less, and Petco round out the lineup, each adding a second Sioux Falls location.

The timing is worth knowing if you are planning around it. Earthwork started in September 2026, and the formal groundbreaking is Tuesday, October 6, 2026. The shopping center should be standing within about a year, and Five Below and Ross plan to open in time for the 2027 holiday season. So this is not a next-month thing, it is a next-year thing, but the ground is moving now.

The homes being built around it

The retail is only part of the story. All along the Veterans Parkway corridor, new housing is filling in. Willows Edge, a Signature Cos. development near Highway 100 and Arrowhead Parkway, mixes townhome-style apartments and single-family homes, with newer phases called Willows South Commons and Willows East Commons. Sundance Village is a 200-acre development at 26th Street and Veterans Parkway planned for single-family homes, apartments, and some commercial use. Willowbrook Village adds a 57-home single-family community on the east side.

Within Foss Fields itself, about 40 acres are set aside for single-family homes, and the Foss Fields Ascent apartment complex, which developers describe as the largest multi-family development in the state, is already leasing near Veterans Parkway and East Madison Street with roughly 500 units planned across its phases. Farther out, the east-side communities of Wild Meadows and 41 Six sit in the Brandon Valley School District, and Whisper Ridge East is going up in southeast Sioux Falls near 69th Street and Sycamore Avenue.

The common thread is that all of these sit near the new north-south route. Veterans Parkway, or South Dakota Highway 100, is being built to connect I-90 and I-29 through the east side, and it is the reason so much new construction is landing along this corridor. The city also extended East 6th Street from Foss Avenue to Veterans Parkway with a $3.3 million four-lane project that wrapped up in September 2025, so the roads were ready before the rooftops and storefronts followed.

What it means in the surrounding communities

The east-side boom reaches well beyond city limits, and the schools are a big part of it. In Brandon, the new Burkman Valley Elementary School is scheduled to open for the 2026-27 school year, and Brandon Valley Middle School is in the middle of a $6.79 million expansion that adds classrooms, a wrestling and multi-purpose space, an expanded kitchen, and more parking. When a district builds schools, it is usually because the families are already coming.

Harrisburg is moving ahead on a new multi-million-dollar city hall in Central Park, with construction expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027, and residential development is surging there as well. In Lennox, a $5 million reconstruction of South Dakota Highway 44 east of town is scheduled for completion on October 30, 2026, and a new Joslyn Park Apartments and Townhomes project is planned in the community's new development area. These are the kinds of infrastructure and housing steps that tell you a community is investing in itself.

What this means for buyers and sellers

Here is the realtor's perspective. The east side has been one of the most active corners of the Sioux Falls market for years, and projects like Foss Fields only strengthen it. Retail anchors make a neighborhood feel established, and they bring buyer demand with them. If you are looking at new construction, the corridor from Dawley Farm Village north through Foss Fields and the Veterans Parkway neighborhoods is where a lot of the value is going to land over the next few years.

For buyers, the lesson is to look past the current storefronts and at what is coming. A neighborhood with a groundbreaking date and a school opening on the calendar is a neighborhood that is going to keep filling in. For sellers, new retail and new schools in your area are good for resale value, and they are worth mentioning when you market your home. My honest advice is the same as always: buy the neighborhood you want to live in, and let the city's momentum work for you. If you would like to talk about what the east-side growth means for your search or your home's value, I would love to walk it through with you.

FAQ: The East Side of Sioux Falls