Shop owner making the move to renovated Baken Park shopping center - Rapid City Journal

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Tanya Manus Journal staff

Baken Park's major makeover is generating a buzz.

Real estate agency Perkins Properties reports the shopping center's renovation is drawing interest from potential tenants.

"It's been amazing to me the number of phone calls we're getting. In the time of COVID-19, there's a lot of entrepreneurial spirit out there," Tim Martin, general manager and leasing agent at Perkins Properties in Omaha, Neb., said Monday.

Martin said he hopes more retail shops will lease space there, but other types of tenants are welcome, too.

"We want good, reliable tenants that treat their customers well and that serve the Rapid City area well. If you get tenants that have a good product — I don't care what product — and they serve their customers well, they're going to be successful and that's what we're looking for," Martin said.

Baken Park is owned by MG Oil Co. of Rapid City. According to Pennington County equalization records, MG Oil Co. acquired the 195,000-square-foot shopping center on Oct. 18, 2019, for $14 million from MFP Mid-America Shopping Centers LLC, of Omaha, Neb.

MG Oil Co. has obtained $2.75 million in permits for demolition, site improvements, exterior and structural upgrades at Baken Park, said Curt Bechtel, a building official for the City of Rapid City.

"I think it's going to be pretty darn nice when it's done. That building was pretty old, and I think MG Oil is going to do a nice job of putting it back together," Bechtel said.

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He said MG Oil Co.'s goal is to finish construction before the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August. MG Oil Co. could not be reached for comment about the project.

According to a sign posted near Family Fare, the renovation will include a landscaped courtyard, a landscaped walkway with outdoor seating, easy access to parking and businesses at the back of the shopping center, and a dozen spaces for new tenants.

Brenda Howard, who owns Rare Finds by Brenda Howard, a home décor store on Deadwood Avenue, is one of the first to lease space there.

"As soon as I found out they were redoing Baken Park, I got my name in right away," she said Tuesday.

Howard announced her move on Facebook on Oct. 1, plans to start moving in January, and hopes to reopen in early February. Rare Finds Décor will celebrate its fourth anniversary in business in May.

Howard said she looks forward to better visibility and more parking at Baken Park.

"You tell somebody, 'I'm in Baken Park' and they know it. It's going to be a very good spot for me," she said. "It's going to be one of my best moves. I think my business will triple there."

She also appreciates the mix of established businesses already there, including Family Fare, Boyds Drug Mart and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Baken Park, bordered by West Main Street on the north, Mountain View Road on the east, Canyon Lake Drive on the south and Rapid Creek on the west, was originally built in 1957 and named for the site of then-remote tourist cottages built along the banks of Rapid Creek. The shopping center was rebuilt after sustaining heavy damage in the 1972 flood.

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