SUMMERSET, S.D. – With a crowd of more than 100 community leaders and citizens looking on, groundbreaking ceremonies were held July 23, for a new housing community to be built on a 300+ acre site on the east side of Summerset. The Highlands at Norman Ranch will be a master-planned affordable housing community that will feature both single-family and townhome style houses, according to Kyle Treloar and Megan Kingsbury of Vanocker Development, the Rapid City based firm managing the project.
“One of the unique features of this subdivision is the location,” Treloar said. “It is strategic in its location as it is close to both Rapid City and Sturgis,”
“With housing needs increasing along the I-90 corridor and the expansion of Ellsworth Air Force Base, the development will serve the workforce needs of those areas with convenient drive times and easy access to I-90,” Kingsbury added.
The Highlands at Norman Ranch will have a Scottish theme, reflected in the street names and the floorplans of the homes which will be built by the award-winning builders at TNT Homes & Construction of Rapid City. Well over 100 homesites will be included in the first phase of the project with new home prices beginning in the upper $300,000’s.
“We will feature home designs that range from craftsman style to a more modern style, according to what the home buyer would like,” said Tony Thompson, co founder of TNT Homes & Construction. “Our goal is to create neighborhoods where each home has its own distinctive style.”
Thompson said the keys to a well-planned community include how the streets are laid out and how the subdivision is platted. The developers also wanted a community that had city water and sewer connections. The city of Summerset has worked with the project leaders to provide water access and a new wastewater main that will cross under I-90 eastward to the development. The infrastructure component of the project is just under $10,000,000 – the largest private infrastructure project South Dakota has seen in a while.
The Highlands will also feature ample green space, walking paths, and easy access to the Black Hills National Forest and nearby recreation opportunities. Principal financing is provided by Pioneer Bank and several Black Hills investors who see the potential in the project.
“This is definitely a growing area that we began to look at nearly ten years ago,” Thompson said. “To see it coming into being is an amazing thing and it has taken a lot of people and lot of partnerships to make it happen.”
If things go according to plan Vanocker Development and Norman Ranch Subdivision, LLC, along with TNT Homes & Construction say that infrastructure work on the project will begin within the next month with the possibility that the first new homes could be going in during 2025.
