Rapid City seeing growth in apartment building

Samuelson Development has spent the past 15 years building and managing apartments in Sioux Falls, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.

Now, the construction firm has struck out for the west where it is seeing new opportunities and investing millions of dollars.

"We love the Rapid City market," saidMatt Petersen, property manager for Samuelson Development. "Our research showed there was a high demand for luxury housing."

The company, which has about 600 properties in its portfolio, is spending about $16 million on the Copper Ridge Apartments project now under construction at 2000 Golden Eagle Road in southwest Rapid City, project manager John Samuelson said.

It is the company's first project in Rapid City.

The construction of those apartments, along with the Gateway Apartment project on Marlin Drive in southern Rapid City that has a permit value of $15.1 million,represents a resurgence in the construction of new multi-housing projects in Rapid City after the national housing market implosion of 2008.

In 2007, 18 building permits were issued for multi-family housing with a value of$18,863,915, according to the Rapid City Community Development and Planning website.

But in 2008, new apartment construction slowed to a crawl, Brett Limbaugh, director ofCommunity Planning and Development Services for Rapid City, said.

Data from theRapid City monthly and yearly building permit reviewsshowed the city issued a total of 11 permits from 2008 to 2011, with a total permit value of $8,585,405.

However, there was still a demand for apartments even as construction slowed, Limbaugh said.

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Rapid City seeing growth in apartment building