Sept. 4, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n A new entertainment district and plans for a sports complex are starting to take shape in Rapid City.<\/p>\n Libertyland USA first was announced in late 2023 as a destination mixed-use development that would include a resort and theme park centered around a living-history attraction.<\/p>\n The plan was to locate on about 300 acres on the northeast side of Rapid City on property largely owned by the Lien family, owners of Pete Lien & Sons, a fourth-generation family business in the mining, mineral processing and ready-mix concrete industry.<\/p>\n The concept has been scaled down some and honed in that time, now focusing on commercial development for about 50 acres owned by the Liens.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone wants this to be a year-round development, so anything I can do to increase the seasonality of the project, I wanted to do,\u201d said Darren Sloniger, managing director of Libertyland USA LLC, the master developer, who is leading the project alongside executives from Storyland Studios.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed to take this from Disney World down to Disney Village and make it something that\u2019s financeable and year-round and attract tourists and local residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Sloniger previously was president of Marquette Cos., a national developer with master-planned, mixed-use and high-rise projects across the country.<\/p>\n Libertyland USA is being designed by Storyland Studios, a team with experience that includes work at The Walt Disney Co., Walt Disney Imagineering, Pixar Animation Studios, Universal Studios and Legoland.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the design detail will be that Americana (theme), driven by Black Hills architecture and design,\u201d Sloniger said.<\/p>\n Within the development, individual businesses will own a proposed hotel, attractions, restaurants and other venues.<\/p>\n \u201cI would describe it as being kind of like walking onto an island. When you walk onto it, you feel like you\u2019re walking into someplace different,\u201d Sloniger said. \u201cIt will be anchored to the east with a boutique hotel that will have entertainment-driven retail in the base, and then it will be anchored to the west by some larger 30,000-to-40,000-square-foot users, attractions.\u201d<\/p>\n Mixed in will be a village-like setting of food and beverage, he said.<\/p>\n The proposed three-story, 160-room hotel will be developed by a partner to be determined. The vision is to be entertainment-driven on the first floor with attractions, including some sort of immersive theater and a family fun center, Sloniger said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only outdoor attractions I\u2019m contemplating are a 150-foot high Ferris wheel and a carousel that will be outdoors, and then go-karts and putt-putt golf for summer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The project recently was approved for tax increment financing from the city of Rapid City.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely want to create the \u2018wow\u2019 factor here, and that\u2019s what the TIF does,\u201d Sloniger said. \u201cThe TIF allows us to take a solid, good project and make it great.\u201d<\/p>\n Rapid City reported almost 4 million tourists last year. Libertyland is designed to offer a reason to extend a stay as travelers visit Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills area, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very centrally located spot,\u201d Sloniger said. \u201cIt\u2019s right off I-90 in the middle of everywhere you want to go. Now there\u2019s a place you can stay \u2026 and have this cool entertainment district that kids will love, and you can make a vacation out of it and spend money in Rapid City. The whole point is when you\u2019re taking your family, it\u2019s a very patriotic type of vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n The goal is to break ground in the next six months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to spend a significant amount of money in mass grading, infrastructure, bringing sewer and water on the spot, creating pads for all the sites, so we need to know we have enough of a critical mass to be able to proceed,\u201d Sloniger said. \u201cWe have enough interested parties right now that the priority is to get agreements in place.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also about 130 acres remaining designed for housing, likely single-family although multifamily could be added, Sloniger said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat residential development will be part of the master plan called Resort Village and will have walking trails throughout the entire community. It will have a community center with a pool and pickleball courts and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea would be to work with multiple builders, he said.<\/p>\n The hope is to find synergy for the overall development with a planned Rapid City sports complex to the east on 23 acres donated by the Lien family near Fleet Farm.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/siouxfalls.business\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LL_BIRDS_SiteOverview_Route76Update_Day-TW-02-copy.jpeg\")
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