Bender Broker Leads Sports Program to Perfect Fit
Carl Teer was beginning to think his dream of opening a stand-alone youth sports academy wasn’t going to materialize.
And then, his commercial real estate broker encouraged him to take one more look at a building he had ruled out earlier in his search.
“We’d been looking for years, and we couldn’t find a spot, or the spot was out of our league,” said Teer, who leads the Christian Youth Activity League, or CYAL.
“We looked at land, and that was really an endeavor.”
His broker, Bobbie Tibbetts of Bender Commercial Real Estate Services, urged him to take a closer look at 601 W. 43rd St., which had been used for a basketball program.
“I was already very familiar with it because we played there all the time, and there were things I didn’t like,” Teer said. “She strongly suggested taking a look anyway, and as soon as we came in, the possibilities really became evident. I don’t know why it struck me that way — I always said the court and bathrooms would have to be redone for it to be the facility we wanted, but that became a possibility.”
The 11,520-square-foot building was purchased by an investor, and CYAL became the tenant. After using school gyms throughout the Sioux Falls area for practices and programming, the idea of CYAL having its own space is literally game-changing.
“It definitely will be, having a place of our own where we can utilize it at prime times. It will be a huge advantage for us,” Teer said.
The program includes boys and girls basketball, with grades four through eight during the winter and expanding into high school in the summer. Athletes come from the Sioux Falls metro area plus as far as Aberdeen and southwest Minnesota.
The new building, called The Academy, also will host track and field, with a small training area for speed and strength work, agility training for softball and baseball, plus flag football and eventually volleyball. Teer also anticipates hosting youth sports events such as wrestling tournaments, quiz bowls and faith-based gatherings.
“Everyone is excited about it,” Teer said. “I was on the verge of thinking we wouldn’t be able to do it, and then it just happened quickly.”
Since 1997, CYAL has served over 4,200 youths in various programs. So far, the building project has been supported by CreditOne and Architecture Incorporated, and CYAL is looking for additional partners and sponsors.
“We’ve also always put an emphasis on the academic side of things — and this facility allows us to have homework help, where we can utilize many of our board members and parents who are teachers, plus allow our youth to mentor younger ones,” Teer said. “In time, we want to be able to move toward an after-school program.”
The building is being renovated with new flooring for the basketball courts, an updated entryway and reconfigured bathrooms.
“With basketball tournaments a regular occurrence in the space previously, there is already local awareness of where the building is located,” Tibbetts said. “With easy access to Minnesota Avenue and to the interstate, it’s perfectly positioned for athletes and spectators to come and go.”
Teer said he’s glad he listened when Tibbetts suggested he take a second look at the space that became a natural fit.
“Bobbie was excellent,” Teer said. “She was on point and suggested using really good insight and market analysis and comparisons. She was great.”
