RAPID CITY - Red dirt is flying along Catron Boulevard near the corner of Sheridan Lake Road these days. The area looks like a massive construction site, and it is.

Simultaneously under construction are a car wash, storage business, a strip mall - the third strip mall at that intersection - and the 278-unit Stoney Creek Highlands Apartment Homes. It will be Rapid City's largest apartment complex.

At the same time, the city is building the $2.4 million Stoney Creek Water Booster and Wellhouse station north of Catron to improve water flows to that corner of the city.

Already a new bank, a health club, a golf business, a liquor store, a veterinarian and other retail businesses are in business near that corner.

Not bad for an area that not long ago was mostly pasturelands.

Catron connectionNewcomers to Rapid City might think Catron Boulevard has been around forever. In fact it's one of the city's newest thoroughfares. The 1.7-mile road between Sheridan Lake Road and U.S. Highway 16 was built in 1999 on land donated by adjoining property owners.

The new road was named after Dennis Catron, the longtime Rapid City builder and developer who died in 1997 during his first year on the Rapid City Council.

In a way, it was Dennis Catron who played a big role in creating the need for the southwest connector that now bears his name. During his career he developed the Countryside, Countryside South and Autumn Hills neighborhoods.

Home construction in the southwest corner of Rapid City soared in the 1990s. Yet most of those residents worked at Rapid City Regional Hospital, Ellsworth Air Force Base or at other jobs east of the Gap. They had to trek north to West Main Street. It was a long haul, especially for base personnel.

Moon Meadows Road, a winding, two-lane shortcut, just wasn't up to the task of handling all that other traffic.

By 1999, Rapid City's long-discussed "road over the hill" became a reality. Now, with the new Southeast Connector completed at the other end of town, Rapid City truly has a southern beltway.

Marcia Elkins, director of the city Growth Management Department, said Catron Boulevard was built for two reasons. First, residents of southwest Rapid City needed an alternate route, especially in an emergency, to east Rapid City. Second, city officials wanted to take some of the traffic pressure off West Main Street in the Gap.

But development along Catron was inevitable, she said. "We had a bet in the office on how long it would be before 50 homes were built," she said. "It took less than two years - I won."

Commercial construction

Despite all the building in the southwest corner of Rapid City, the bulk of it has been residential. That is changing, though.

Dr. Jeffrey Bendt, a Rapid City obstetrician, has played a big role in the growth of Catron Boulevard area. He bought much of the land between Sheridan Lake Road and U.S. Highway 16 back in 1999, when Catron was a dusty bulldozer trail over the hill.

"I just kind of sat on it for awhile; there was no big rush in trying to deciding what to do with it," he said.

The north side of Catron, developed for single-family homes, filled in first. Bendt said there was a lot of demand for homes in the $180,000 to $250,000 price range, and lots sold quickly. He developed about 60 lots north of Catron, and all but two have been sold.

Bendt sold land south of Catron to Belgarde Enterprises, the company building the massive Stoney Creek Highlands Apartment Homes project.

The $24 million hilltop complex will be made up of 16 buildings on 27.5 acres, with separate garages, a two- story clubhouse, a fitness center, a spa, a one-mile walking path and a coin- operated laundry. That project alone will likely shift area commercial development into high gear.

Now, Bendt is playing a minor role in the current southwestern commercial boom. He sold property at the intersection to Rapid City dentist Bill Donhiser. And Donhiser is responsible for most of the retail projects there.

Donhiser built the Autumn Hills Plaza north of Catron. It's home to My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Autumn Hills Liquors, Autumn Hills Veterinary Clinic, Curves and other businesses. And Security First Bank built a new branch on the corner.

More recently, Donhiser constructed the Stoney Creek Plaza. Two businesses, World Class Golf and Snap Fitness Center, have moved in. A new strip center nearby will be dominated by Buffalo Wings & Rings, a casual dining eatery. And another bank is likely to join Security First at Catron and Sheridan Lake Road.

Meanwhile, the new car wash, the Stoney Creek Auto Spa and Storage, is under construction as well. That belongs to Bendt. He will personally own and operate the business.

"I used to own a car wash on Rushmore Road back in the late 1990s. … It was kind of fun going over after a (baby) delivery or something and getting my hands dirty - it was even kind of fun sweeping around the drains," he said.

He hopes the new carwash will be a popular stopping place in the hub of the fast-growing Countryside-Autumn Hills-Stoney Creek residential area.

Even farther south, Bendt still has about 80 acres of land. "I haven't decided what we're going to do with that. Obviously, it will be developed some day."

Residential momentum

In the chicken-and-egg rhythm of city growth, residential neighborhoods attract commercial development, and commercial development, in turn, attracts more residential neighborhoods. That's what is happening in the Catron Boulevard corridor.

Just south of the Stoney Creek Highlands Apartment Homes project a new subdivision is taking shape. It's called Catron Crossing, and the first 48-lot phase is nearly ready for builders.

"Rapid City is finally starting to grow west again," said Chad Lewis of OTC, the company developing Catron Crossing. He believes the first 48 lots will take one to two years to sell out, and work on the second phase could start next spring.

West Rapid City land has been at a premium for a number of years, partly because development costs are higher. And Lewis said infrastructure such as water and sewer hasn't been available in the past.

He believes Catron Crossing is a good location for a new neighborhood. It's close to Corral Drive Elementary and Southwest Middle School, but the neighborhood, tucked behind the hill south of Catron Boulevard, has a rural feel to it.

His partners are his mother, veteran Rapid City Realtor Paula Lewis, and his uncle, Steve Shurtz of Gillette, Wyo.

Farther east, the Villagio at Golden Eagle is an upscale single-family home subdivision with 24 lots. Lage Construction, the developer of Carriage Hills and The Ranch at Black Gap subdivisions, is building that project.

Lage's Jennifer Landguth said the hilltop Villagio site was chosen for its sweeping views, its forested surroundings and its convenient location. And access to shopping - the proposed Wal-Mart project to the east and the new strip malls to the west - will serve to increase that convenience, she said.

"We definitely need some retail on the west side of Rapid City," she said.

She's not surprised that it has taken nearly eight years for commercial development to arrive in southwest Rapid City. "Whether you're building Cabela's or a strip mall, it takes a long time," she said. "It's huge dollars to buy the land, build the building and hope some tenants move in."

Lots of carsVehicle traffic numbers confirm that the southwest corner of Rapid City is growing. In 2007, the average daily traffic on Catron Boulevard between Sheridan Lake Road and Highway 16 has increased 27 percent since 2004. On average, more than 11,000 vehicles per day travel that route.

During the same period, traffic on Sheridan Lake Road north of Catron Boulevard has increased 4 percent to more than 13,500 vehicles per day.

That kind of traffic volume - with more to come - makes it a very attractive intersection for retailers. But it also creates a concern about traffic congestion.

Doug Scheller, who has lived in the quiet Wildwood subdivision just west of Sheridan Lake Road for the past 18 years, said he has mixed feelings about what's happening at the corner.

He recently joined Snap Fitness, and he likes the idea of having more shopping and services close to his home. But he also has seen big traffic jams on Sheridan Lake Road, especially in the mornings when parents are dropping off kids at Corral Drive Elementary.

"I've seen a solid line of cars backed up from Corral Drive all the way to Catron some mornings," he said. "And I think we're just seeing the beginning of it."

City Engineer Robert Ellis said the city has no immediate plans to widen Sheridan Lake Road. "But we are watching it," he said. "We've been doing traffic analysis, and we do see some congestion in that morning rush hour timeframe. I suspect, at some point in time, we will be recommending a project, but we do not have any financial commitments to doing a project there."

Some Wildwood residents over the years have feared that the city might decide to turn Wildwood Drive, which meets Catron Boulevard at Sheridan Lake Road, into an arterial street connecting with neighborhoods to the west.

Several years ago, there was a plan to extend Wildwood west to the Carriage Hills neighborhood, Elkins said. Those plans were scrapped several years ago, mostly because of opposition among Wildwood residents.

Scheller said, if such a plan arose again, "Those would be fighting words."

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