It doesn't take long to get from Sioux Falls, S.D., to one of the biggest entertainment centers in the area in northwest Iowa.

It's a quick eight miles from the city's edge on East 10th Street to the Grand Falls Casino Resort that operates on rich agricultural land where three states meet.

But the projection that economic development will follow the gaming destination has proved a pokey process. Some observers of development say not much is happening outside of east-side Sioux Falls' commercial growth in the Dawley Farm area. But it eventually will.

"I think that corridor is going to develop," Michael Bender, founder of Bender Commercial Real Estate Services, told the Argus Leader newspaper (http://argusne.ws/1bAjWi6 ). "Most things don't develop as quickly as they are hyped to develop."

In its second full year of operation, Grand Falls has continued working on its overall site plan and will open an 18-hole golf course late next summer. The casino also is persistently fine-tuning its other entertainment choices, including bringing in national entertainment and concerts each month.

Add in more houses being built on the eastern edge of Sioux Falls combined with planned construction of South Dakota Highway 100 and a general uptick in east-side development, and there will be enough activity to support business, Bender said.

Sharon Haselhoff, general manager at Grand Falls, expects others to join her out among the cornfields and pastures along the Iowa border.

With 22 acres of Lyon County farmland zoned commercial across the highway from the casino, Everett Kracht is a possible pioneer in development near Grand Falls. The 55-year-old retired Garretson, S.D., farmer plans to eventually develop the land with amenities that complement a casino.

"We're a long ways away from setting stakes in the ground," he said.

While Kracht isn't ready to talk about specifics, he said there is enough traffic at the casino and hundreds of employees working there who need services.

"Anything that complements the casino and the resort area, we're going to be on top of that," he said.

A couple of other businesses have chosen the area for growth, too.

The Riviera by Rocco's, a venue for wedding receptions, corporate meetings and other events, is near the intersection of Highway 11 and 10th Street, close enough to the casino that eventually the event venue would like to offer a shuttle for guests to the Grand Falls hotel and to Brandon, S.D., to the Holiday Inn Express.

Owners liked the scenery and landscape when they chose the location that holds its first events this week.

"Proximity to Grand Falls Casino Resort, Willow Run (Golf Course) and the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum gives our clients activities to add to their experience at The Riviera by Rocco's," said Matt Sapari, CEO. "We recognize this area has great commercial growth potential and look forward to collaborating with our neighbors for added entertainment and accommodations options."

On the west edge of Rowena, The Gas Stop has a sign announcing a future location in an area where there is nowhere to fill up between Sioux Falls and the casino. Company officials did not return phone calls to comment on when that development will be ready.

Jeff Schmitt, the chief planning and zoning official in Sioux Falls, said the area between the city and Grand Falls isn't a big draw for developers for several reasons. For starters, there are not enough people.

"You need rooftops, rooftops, rooftops, heads in beds, and you need traffic numbers," he said.

It could take many years before a convenience store or other businesses are opened along the way to the casino, Schmitt said. A convenience store can cost $2 million, for example, and traffic numbers have to be high enough to support that business, he said.

Sioux Falls and the casino also are so close that services on the way aren't needed as much.

"They're not going to say, 'Hey let's stop for coffee,'" he said.

"That area in between is going to have a real challenge to develop," Schmitt said. "It's traffic numbers."

At one point, Sioux Falls considered adding a bridge over the Big Sioux River on what would be East 57th Street to help Iowa commuters and shoppers get to the south part of town. It also would have made it easier for people in Sioux Falls and Harrisburg to get to the casino.

But land along a 57th Street extension isn't yet in the city limits, and the massive size of the bridge makes the project very expensive, even if it also would be more convenient, Schmitt said.

"It's in the books. It's in our long-range plans, but it's not funded," he said.

Mark Cotter, director of public works for the city, puts road projects at 57th Street and the river out 10 to 20 years, depending on how fast the area develops. The city's priorities on the east side are to connect Highway 100 to Interstate 90 and to improve Highway 42, which is Arrowhead Parkway, he said.

"It is certainly a bridge that will happen as we grow out to the Big Sioux River," Cotter said. "What we have to weigh it against is 'Do we have other higher priorities?' The answer is 'Yes.' "

In the meantime, Grand Falls has been a good community citizen and employer of people in the area, especially workers from Sioux Falls, said Mary Medema, director of workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. The casino has sponsored many community events and added hundreds of jobs when it opened in June 2011.

Those jobs came at an important time when there had been layoffs because of a softer economy, Medema said.

"Their initial announcement was 700 jobs. It was just amazing."

The casino employs 525 full- and part-time workers, with 76 percent coming from South Dakota, Haselhoff said.

The company's balance sheet remains strong, but revenue is a little behind what managers anticipated when the casino opened.

"It just takes time to develop," Haselhoff said, adding that sometimes it takes customers awhile to get in the habit of thinking about all of the entertainment options at the casino.

"We're getting there," she said. "We're happy where things are at."

Grand Falls' annual report for 2012 shows that the casino's expenses outpaced revenue. Grand Falls took in $58.1 million from gaming, $6 million from food and drinks, $2.6 million from its hotel operations and $1.9 million from other retail such as its stores. Once the operation subtracted $4.2 million spent on promotions, its net revenue was $64.6 million. That's nearly twice the $36.5 million net revenue from 2011, when it started operations in June.

Factoring in expenses for doing business and its interest and bank refinancing costs, Grand Falls' net loss was $4.8 million. That compares with $4.7 million in 2011 when the facility was open only part of the year.

"We anticipated the first couple of years to have a loss. We just have a lot of expenses," Haselhoff said. "Our goal is to try and pay down our bank debt as quickly as we can."

There's no question that Grand Falls is bringing in money. Under its operating agreement, it also is giving away millions. The Lyon County Riverboat Foundation, the nonprofit gaming license holder for the casino, received $2.18 million last year. One-fourth of that money goes to school districts in the county, while another one-quarter goes to municipalities in the county. The rest is distributed through grants to other projects in the county, including a multiyear grant for $750,000 to the Inwood Aquatic Center.

Grand Falls also refinanced its bank loan this past year, saving it $3 million a year.

An 18-hole golf course costing between $6 million and $8 million will open late next summer. The 155-acre course — designed by Rees Jones — adds to monthly concerts, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools at the hotel, dining, weekly free live music and the gaming available at Grand Falls. Management wants to build the casino into an entertainment package that will draw repeat customers.

"It adds a whole new level to the resort," Haselhoff said of the course, which includes a waterfall reminiscent of the falls of the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls.

Golfers will end their play on the 18th hole above the drop-and-water feature.

"It's just not the casino," Haselhoff said. "It's all these other things that create the environment that folks are looking for."

Haselhoff said she sees the casino as a tourist destination for the area, including Sioux Falls.

"We still have new people that come here every day," she said. "I think people are really blown away at all we have to offer here."

An AP Member Exchange Feature by the Argus Leader