Developers unveiled plans Thursday for a huge hilltop commercial and residential project - including four condominium towers seven stories tall - just west of the Tower Road overpass on Mount Rushmore Road.

The 196 condominium units will offer sweeping views of Rapid City and the plains to the east.

The project, named Skyline Pines East, would also include as many as a dozen office buildings, 10 twin homes and possibly a restaurant - all with the same sweeping view.

Bulldozers are already carving the hilltop above the Comfort Inn and Ruby Tuesday's restaurant. Realtor Bob Drew said that as much as 30 feet of rock and soil will be removed from the ridge tops to create the building sites.

"Over the next 60 days, you're going to see a lot of dirt-moving," Drew said during a brief ground-breaking ceremony.

Local partners in Skyline Pines East are Rapid City businessman Barry Peterson and owners of FourFront Design of Rapid City. In addition, several investors from Grand Island, Neb., are involved. The project manger is Merlin Brenden of Grand Island.

Brenden, a graduate of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, has been a developer for more than 20 years. He said it could take six or seven years to complete the entire project.

The first phase includes reconstruction of Tower Road, next summer, and development of the commercial lots. The condominium towers will be built in the second phase. Fairmont Boulevard - the road that runs between the Riddles jewelry factory and Ruby Tuesday's - will eventually connect with Tower Road to the south.

The site - 100 acres of steep canyon and rocky hilltops straddling Tower Road - has remained undeveloped. But various developers have been looking at some type of housing in the area for a number of years.

In fact, Rapid City developer Pat Hall had already won city approval for a tax increment financing district to fund the Tower Road reconstruction. The city has also approved the planned unit development design for the project as well. Hall sold the land to the current investors about six months ago, Drew said.

"All we needed to do was get the grading permit and get started," he said.

Final design work on the condominium projects is under way, Bryan Vulcan of FourFront Design said. He said the architects will design the towers to blend in with the surrounding terrain. "We're committed to not disrupting any scenic views," he said.

Drew and Realtor Rich Evans are marketing the Skyline Pines East. Drew said the condos ikely will lsell for about $300 per square foot, or about $300,000 for a typical 1,000-square-foot apartment.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com