Mayor Alan Hanks said Friday the north parking lot of The Journey Museum would be an ideal location for the art market and powwow grounds that a nonprofit Native American organization wants to build.

"We believe this is our best option," Hanks said at a news conference at the museum.

Other sites have been proposed, but floodplain concerns deterred planners from building south of the Journey, and questions arose about building east of the museum because the city does not own all of that land.

Hanks said those issues shouldn't be a problem in the proposed north parking-lot location.

Hanks thinks building the powwow grounds will be a good way to help ease racial tensions in Rapid City, much like the construction of the Journey was when it was built.

"This is really the first big step that we've taken in almost a decade in trying to make sure that the Native American community feel that they have a place here in Rapid City," he said. "And we want to make sure that we give them every opportunity to share their culture with us."

The Alliance of Tribal Tourism Advocates, a nonprofit organization representing all nine tribes in South Dakota, has over the past year discussed with the city several different locations for the outdoor Native Aart market, living-history village and powwow grounds and arena near the museum.

The facility would officially be called the "ATTA PowWow Gardens and Market," according to a city news release.

Hanks presented the new site plans Friday with tribal alliance executive director Daphne Richards Cook and Pat Wyss of Wyss Associates. Wyss has been working with the tribal alliance on the facility's design for the past few years.

Hanks said the Journey's board has not yet met but appears to favor the project, and he said the board of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center has "voted and endorsed" the project.

"We have made it over a couple of hurdles that the city council asked that we address prior to coming back with a proposal," he said.

The site proposal will be presented to the city council's Legal and Finance Committee on Feb. 26 and will then be presented to the full city council.

Hanks said he is confident the north site is the best option and didn't say whether a backup site has been identified.

The city had set aside $812,000 in 2012 funding - the city's program of long-range planning - for the project. That was the initial cost estimated for the facility, but Wyss said that number is "three years old" and probably not accurate. He expects to come up with a new cost estimate in the next 45 days but would not give an estimate Friday.

Cook said there may be some federal grants and other funding options available for the project. The tribal alliance will likely wait until a location and other details on the building have been ironed out before applying for any grants because the amount of money needed is yet unknown.

She said she is excited to move forward with the project and appreciates the city council working with the alliance to make it happen.

If the site is approved, Wyss expects to break ground later this year. It will take between six months and eight months to build, he said.

Wyss said the proposed facility would include a circular performance area with a stage and lighting. That structure would hold about 500 people and could accommodate between 1,000 and 2,000 people with the addition of city-owned bleachers.

East of the performance area would be an "outdoor living-history re-enactment area" and an art market, Wyss said. The facility would also include a walkway connecting the entrance of the PowWow Gardens to the entrance of The Journey Museum.

"It's a great site. It's very contained. It will be a perfect location to integrate projects and activities with the Journey and the powwow," he said.

Cook said the powwow grounds would probably be open from mid-May until September, tentatively from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Hanks said the city would be able to add parking at any time if the facility is as successful as he expects it to be.

"The nice thing about The Journey Museum is they've got a tremendous amount of bus traffic coming through here," the mayor said. "So it's almost a built-in audience, a built-in customer base straight out of the chute."

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com