Rapid City SD – On August 4, 2026, Governor Larry Rhoden announced an additional $1 million Future Fund award to Elevate Rapid City to help develop “Northline Business Park” — a new business and industrial park in Rapid City.

Elevate Rapid City is matching with $1 million of its own money plus donor funding. “Strong communities don’t wait for opportunity,” Rhoden said. “They prepare for it and take action.”

Jack Valentine — Elevate Rapid City’s President and CEO, just eight days into the job — called it an investment that “will give local businesses room to grow and help Rapid City compete for new employers.”

Nowhere in the release is a street address, a parcel number, or a section-township-range description. Nowhere is there any reference to how this land got its zoning stripped away, who originally owned it, or who objected.

The Revolving Door

There’s one glaring omission the press release avoids: Jack Valentine, the Elevate Rapid City CEO quoted celebrating this investment, was — until just weeks before he started the job — the state’s own “Operations Division Director” for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Public board minutes show Valentine personally chairing the May 26, 2026, Grant Committee meeting and sitting as staff at the May 13 REDI Board meeting and the June 1 Credit Committee meeting.

Those are the exact committees that reviewed and recommended the $7.5 million REDI loan to Elevate Rapid City, which was finalized by the full board on June 10.

Valentine became Elevate Rapid City’s President and CEO on July 27 — about seven weeks after helping shepherd a multi-million-dollar loan through the state apparatus, putting him in a position to administer those exact funds from the other side of the table.

Marketing Before the Vote

This isn’t Elevate Rapid City’s first funding round for this project, and it isn’t a guess that it’s the same land — Elevate’s own publications prove it.

On June 9, 2026, Elevate Rapid City published “Understanding the Proposed Catalyst District TIF Amendment,” a flyer listing the project at 128 total acres with 34 planned lots.

That is the exact same footprint near Haines Avenue and Mall Drive as the 127.95 acres covered by five simultaneous rezoning requests (26RZ014 through 26RZ018), filed by Avid4 Engineering on behalf of Elevate Rapid City.

The sequencing is critical. That June 9 article — branding the land “Northline Business Park” — was published six days before the City Council actually voted on the Catalyst TIF Amendment (June 15), and sixteen days before the Planning Commission voted on the rezoning itself (June 25).

Elevate Rapid City was publicly marketing this as a locked-in, branded project before the public process to approve it had concluded.

The Overridden Protest and the Blank Check

When the public process did happen, it steamrolled over direct opposition.

On June 18, 2026, Paul E. Evans, President of McMahon Investment Inc., filed a formal written protest with the city’s Department of Community Development regarding his adjacent property.

In block capitals, he wrote: “MCMAHON INVESTMENT INC. DOES NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS AT ALL OR ELEVATE RAPID CITY. IF ANY OF MY PROPERTY IS INVOLVED IN THIS, PLEASE REMOVE MY PROPERTY FROM THIS IMMEDIATELY.”

The Planning Commission heard the rezoning requests anyway on June 25. Evans’s protest was overridden. All five passed.

During that meeting, Community Development Director Vicki Fisher called the existing General Ag zoning a “holding cell” for taxation.

Asked to walk through what the new Light Industrial zoning would allow, Fisher listed conditional uses including a brewery, childcare center, church, and a correctional facility—a notable inclusion for land in a city with an unresolved, unsited search underway for a new jail. No commissioner followed up. And when no commissioner had asked about smokestacks, an Elevate Rapid City representative volunteered, unprompted: “These are not smokestacks.”

Ten days before the Planning Commission ever cast those votes, the City Council had already approved Amendment #1 to the Catalyst TIF District’s Project Plan.

The staff report for one of the rezoning cases explicitly incorporated the business park project into the TIF. Yet, the same staff report’s “Funding Source and Fiscal Impact” table — the section meant to disclose the public cost of this maneuver — was left entirely blank.

The Hidden Landowner and the Dark Server

The actual landowner behind the largest rezoned parcel wasn’t Elevate Rapid City — it was MDD LLC, an entity organized on March 9, 2018.

Two weeks after MDD LLC was formed, 77.72 acres changed hands via a warranty deed for $0 — a transaction Pennington County’s own records classify as being between “related individuals or corporations.”

While MDD LLC’s Secretary of State filings trace only to a Rapid City law firm acting as a registered-agent service, the anonymity ends at the mailbox.

Pennington County Equalization records show MDD LLC’s property tax bills are mailed to 24020 Hardesty Road in Rapid City.

That address is a nexus for local real estate and development. State records reveal 24020 Hardesty Road has operated as the registered office for Hills Construction, Ltd. since 1995.

The company is run by the Sagdalen family, with current 2026 corporate filings listing Lisa R. Sagdalen as President and Marian R. Johnson as Vice President. The family has deep roots in local development; Jack Sagdalen was part of Builders Development Group, Inc., the entity that originally developed the Countryside Subdivision in the early 1980s.

The same 24020 Hardesty Road address also houses the brokerage Skyline Properties and Realty. Whether MDD LLC is a direct venture of the developers or a client shielded by the brokerage, the paper trail connecting the Catalyst TIF district land to an established real estate hub is complete. The true beneficial owner remains hidden behind a shared commercial mailbox.

There is no scandal in an established local developer or brokerage selling land. The scandal is the bureaucratic red carpet rolled out to facilitate it, potentially while the public’s ability to watch was offline.

Elevate Rapid City’s Catalyst TIF maneuver and REDI loan approvals occurred in June.

By early July 2026, a massive cybersecurity incident forced Pennington County’s public-facing records offline.

If the deed transferring the 128 acres from MDD LLC to Elevate Rapid City was recorded during this window, a multi-million-dollar, publicly subsidized land deal was finalized while the county’s transparency infrastructure was literally in the dark.

The Throughline

This isn’t a new scandal. It’s the same one, wearing a ribbon.

A governor’s office and a newly installed nonprofit CEO — who was, weeks earlier, the state official helping approve the money — are taking a victory lap on land whose rezoning history includes an overridden landowner protest, a TIF commitment locked in before the public process concluded, and a blank fiscal disclosure table. Friday’s press release doesn’t mention.

Reporter’s Source Notes & Documentation Index

1. Governor Rhoden’s Announcement & Funding

• Future Fund Grant ($1M) & Elevate Match ($1M): State of South Dakota Executive Press Release, Governor Larry Rhoden (Aug 4, 2026).
• Quotes (“Strong communities…”, Jack Valentine quote): Official Governor’s Office Press Release transcript (Aug 4, 2026).
• REDI Loan Approval ($7.5M): SD Board of Economic Development Board Packet & Meeting Minutes (June 10, 2026). Exec Session SDCL 1-16G-11 confidential packet; verified via Elevate Rapid City publication.

2. The Revolving Door (Jack Valentine)

• GOED Employment & Role: Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) Staff Roster (Operations Division Director, through July 2026).
• May 13, 2026 REDI Board Meeting: Public Meeting Minutes, SD Board of Economic Development (Jack Valentine sitting as GOED staff).
• May 26, 2026 GOED Grant Committee Meeting: Public Meeting Minutes (Jack Valentine presiding as Committee Chair).
• June 1, 2026 GOED Credit Committee Meeting: Public Meeting Minutes (Jack Valentine sitting as staff review for Elevate RC $7.5M REDI loan).
• Elevate Rapid City CEO Appointment: Elevate Rapid City Board Announcement (Effective date July 27, 2026).

3. Land Identification & Pre-Vote Marketing

• “Northline Business Park” Branding (June 9, 2026): Elevate Rapid City, “Understanding the Proposed Catalyst District TIF Amendment” (Published June 9, 2026). Detail: 128 total acres, 34 planned lots (7 commercial/retail, 23 business park, 3 office commercial).
• Rezoning Applications (26RZ014–26RZ018): City of Rapid City Department of Community Development filings by Avid4 Engineering on behalf of Elevate Rapid City. Footprint: 127.95 acres, Section 24, T2N, R7E.
• TIF Amendment #1 Approval (June 15, 2026): Rapid City Council Minutes, Case 26TI006 (Amendment #1 to Catalyst District TIF #101 Project Plan, adding $19.4M).

4. Public Hearings, Protest, and Official Statements

• Written Protest (June 18, 2026): Formal written protest filed by Paul E. Evans, President of McMahon Investment Inc., with Rapid City Department of Community Development. Block capital statement recorded in public hearing exhibit.
• Planning Commission Hearing (June 25, 2026): Rapid City Planning Commission Audio/Transcript & Staff Reports for Cases 26RZ014–26RZ018:
  • Vicki Fisher (Community Development Director): Statements on the record classifying General Ag as a “holding cell” for tax purposes and reading the list of Light Industrial conditional uses (including brewery, childcare, church, and correctional facility).
  • Garth Wadsworth (Elevate Rapid City): Statement on the record: “These are not smokestacks.”
  • Fiscal Disclosure Table: Staff report exhibit for 26RZ016 showing “Funding Source and Fiscal Impact” table left blank.

5. Land Ownership, Tax Mailings, & Corporate Entities

• MDD LLC Formation & Deed Transfer:
  • South Dakota Secretary of State Business Record (DL145107, organized March 9, 2018).
  • Pennington County Register of Deeds: Warranty Deed transferring 77.72 acres (Tax ID 39296) to MDD LLC for $0 (Pennington County classification: “related individuals or corporations”). Legal description for Tax ID 69248 references “McMahon Industrial Park #2.”
• MDD LLC Registered Agent Trail: SD SOS Annual Reports (2019, 2026) listing DeMersseman Jensen Tellinghuisen & Huffman, LLP (516 5th St / PO Box 1820, Rapid City; Curtis S. Jensen / Nathan R. Chicoine). Optional “Beneficial Owners” field left blank.
• Property Tax Mailings: Pennington County Equalization Tax Billing Records for Tax IDs 39296 & 69248, listing mailing address as 24020 Hardesty Rd, Rapid City, SD 57702.
• Hills Construction, Ltd. Filings:
  • SD SOS Statement of Change / Annual Reports (DB022577), establishing registered office at 24020 Hardesty Rd since August 1995.
  • SD SOS 2026 Annual Report (July 5, 2026), listing Lisa R. Sagdalen as President and Marian R. Johnson as Vice President.
  • Historical records establishing Jack Sagdalen and Betty Jo Sagdalen as long-term officers/directors.
• Developers Background: Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Countryside Subdivision (July 25, 1983), naming Builders Development Group, Inc. (Jack Sagdalen, Dean R. Hamm, Jill C. Hamm).
• Skyline Properties and Realty: Black Hills Association of REALTORS / SD Real Estate Commission Licensee Directory listing Dan McNamara and Jeff Larsen at 24020 Hardesty Rd, Rapid City, SD 57702.
• Administrative Dissolution of 112 East Kansas City St LLC: SD SOS Notice of Delinquency & Certificate of Administrative Dissolution (DL153129, effective Dec 16, 2019).
• Pennington County IT/Cybersecurity Outage: Pennington County Commission announcements & official notices confirming county public land records servers offline starting early July 2026.

A Developer, A TIF, and A Landowner – A Rapid City Zoning Tale