SIOUX FALLS, S.D (KELO) — North Philips Avenue near Falls Park has changed a lot over the past several years. Now a new project is taking the transformation even further.

Attendees, donors and community leaders gathered at Falls Park West to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Jacobson Plaza.

“This is the last missing link between the core of our downtown and Falls Park. So there’s not a lot of land availability left for something like this. So to be able to pull together a project like this of this size, this scale, with this many people involved, it’s just a special project. And this is going to be a huge attraction for our downtown,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.

The $16.5 million project is going to bring an ice ribbon, a dog park and an inclusive, accessible playground to this area.

Construction will start Monday with the hope of being open to the public in early 2025. Once complete, the plaza will have the city’s largest ice skating rink, paired with a splash pad capable of hosting thousands of people a week.

“It’s gonna be a draw for the region around Sioux Falls,” donor Garry Jacobson said.

Garry Jacobson and his wife contributed more than $5 million to the project. He says he wanted to do this for his children and for future generations.

“Sioux Falls is a fabulous city, fabulous people, and our family is so blessed to be able to give back to this city, make it even nicer,” Jacobson said.

As construction gets underway, TenHaken says the next phase of enhancing downtown will be the Greenway and Riverfront projects.

The refrigerated ice skating ribbon is planned to span the length of two football fields.

The inclusive playground is estimated to be over 26,000 square feet, the largest in Sioux Falls.