As a child, Sioux Falls entrepreneur Alex Halbach “spent countless hours” creating and re-creating structures out of LEGOs and popsicle sticks.
His building obsession continued all seven years of undergraduate and postgraduate education, where he says he watched hours of HGTV a day while studying for exams. This, he recalls, was a “recipe for remodel frenzy.”
“The problem with HGTV is they take a disaster-of-a-home, and in 30 minutes, it’s beautiful and move-in ready,” said Halbach. “In reality, it takes hours, weeks, months, and even years to transform these projects into what you see today. It also is a lot of sleepless nights worried about finances, delays, scheduling problems, and supply chain problems that can really impact a project.”
Halbach’s first project was a 1915 Craftsman home in McKennan Park that he purchased during law school.
“After moving out of the home in 2015 for a two-year renovation, the home looks very different now than it did back then,” he recalled. “That project showed me you can combine the love of old homes with modern and transitional finishes to create an old home that has all of the modern conveniences everyone wants in a project.”
This drive to enhance real estate with historic charm with modern details soon launched Boulevard Companies in 2016, which consists of Boulevard Properties and Boulevard Construction with his business partner, Ryan Knutson.
“[Ryan] is a meticulous craftsman,” said Halbach. “His ability to flawlessly execute a vision for space is incredible.”
Halbach has a unique vision when it comes to seeing the potential in a historic house or a commercial building that “needs a little love.” During his daily drive down 9th Street to get to his previous downtown office, he says he would always pass an old building at 100 South Grange Avenue.
“I always passed by the building and thought, ‘That would be an awesome neighborhood restaurant,’” remembered Halbach.
Halbach says it reminded him of traveling in metroslike Minneapolis and Denver, where he would visit historic residential neighborhoods that had quaint commercial districts.
“I would always seek out these historic neighborhoods to gawk at the architecture and homes, then would try and find a local restaurant or bar to relax in after my visit to the neighborhood,” he said. “Sioux Falls didn’t really have anything comparable.”
The 1908 structure was built by Peter Effting, initially operating as the Effting Grocery Building with the grocery store on the main floor and the family residence on the second floor. In 1934 the name changed to Lincoln Grocery, which operated until 1954, and the building was vacant until 1961 when the main level was converted to a residence.
“At around the same time [of the conversion,] the exterior of the building was covered in stucco, including covering the front entrance to the building,” Halbach recalled. “It operated as a residential duplex until 2022 when we started our restoration of the building.”
This was the first project Halbach says he purchased without even seeing the inside.
“I think there are a lot of people in town that thought I must be crazy to have purchased it when I did, but I don’t think you can argue with how it turned out,” he laughed.
anything but a façade
The building was awarded a $95,000 grant through the Façade Easement Program.
“I couldn’t have done the project without the support from the City of Sioux Falls and their Façade Easement Program,” said Halbach. “Those dollars were instrumental in the rebrick of the building and acquiring quality, period-appropriate materials to finish the exterior, including windows, doors, and lighting.”
Halbach says he knew the first floor would be a neighborhood restaurant or coffee shop, and he had a hunch the second floor would be ideal for a small office space, like a bookkeeping or real estate office.
It finally occurred to him the upstairs was the perfect fit for his hybrid law office for Halbach|Szwarc Law Firm. The business is owned by Halbach and his partners, Stefan Szwarc, Anna Limoges, and Emily Maurice.
The Halbach|Szwarc Law Firm currently has 13 employees working remotely all across South Dakota and Iowa. Halbach says the pandemic taught him that clients don’t necessarily need interaction face to face—they’re looking more for quality and responsiveness.
His team is welcome to use the space for work by reserving a desk and/or a conference room for an hour or a day if they’re meeting with clients or wish to use the office’s technology inside or outside of the office to assist in the hybrid law practice.
“As a full-service law firm, our team members have varying degrees of conference room and space needs, so designing a space that was versatile, yet functional was important,” said Halbach.
The building is 1,000 square feet on each floor, so using every inch of space was imperative. This was accomplished upstairs with carefully thought-out storage, a shelf divider, curated furniture pieces, and custom cabinets.
“I love the custom white oak shelf that divides the two open spaces, which was custom made by Boulevard Construction,” said Halbach. “The slope of the shelf mimics the slope of the ceiling.”
“I’m not someone who rushes to furnish a space. I feel like you need to spend some time in the space before you add furniture and décor items, and the space will mature and change as you spend more time in the space.”
-Alex Halbach
As mentioned, the main floor was also 1,000 square feet, which made the potential for restaurant seating difficult without getting creative.
“With only 18 seats on the interior of the space, I knew it might be challenging to find an operator who understood the vision for the space and understood the passion I had for neighborhoods and the experience I was trying to create,” said Halbach.
After some discussion and convincing, Barry Putzke and Jordan Taylor (of Bread & Circus Sandwich Kitchen, En Place Catering, and Pizza Cheeks) and Patrick Sayler (of the Sioux Falls Food Co+op) understood the experience and the vibe that Halbach thought the building deserved.
The talented team’s focus was the idea of a comfortable neighborhood café with scratch-made breakfast items in an intimate setting. Together they came up with the name: Perch.
“The name Perch came from the idea that we’re in the Cathedral and Pettigrew Neighborhood, as we’re ‘perched’ above downtown,” explained Halbach.
Originally planned to open January of 2024, material delays and general construction issues caused Perch to open July of 2024. That didn’t stop the Perch crew from hosting a slew of brunch pop-ups at En Place Catering’s event room.
“The pop-ups gave us an unique opportunity to test out a few different menu items and train our staff off-site before the restaurant opened,” said Halbach. “It really helped us work out the new-restaurant kinks.”
Menu items from the pop-up ended up on the finalized Perch menu, like the Bratwurst Biscuit Sandwich with a bratwurst sausage patty, fried egg, gruyere, chimichurri, pickled red cabbage, and papas fritas.
Halbach says the most popular breakfast item is the Perch Benedict, which includes an English muffin, Canadian bacon, poached eggs, hollandaise, chives, and papas fritas.
“I may be biased, but I think our hollandaise sauce is the best I’ve ever had,” said Halbach. “While I love our Perch Benedict with a muffin, I order it with a biscuit instead of a muffin so I can enjoy our fresh-baked biscuits with the hollandaise.”
Speaking of freshly baked, Perch has a made-fresh-daily bakery case with a rotating menu of scones, cookies, muffins, and their cinnamon roll, which has become a huge hit.
“Our cinnamon rolls quickly became a crowd favorite, and we still sell out of them nearly every day,” said Halbach.
“We have had a lot of positive feedback from customers about how bright and inviting the space is and how creative the use of space is.”
-Alex Halbach
In October, Perch launched a small lunch menu that includes a Lyonnaise Salad, a Steak Sandwich, and a Vegan Fried Tofu Bowl.
Drinks include a coffee menu that has lattes made with Brookings’ Cottonwood Coffee and also serve hot chocolate, which Halbach says he’s heard is the “best hot chocolate in town.”
Cottonwood Coffee worked with Perch to create a custom coffee blend, and the team hopes to sell their roast or whole bean to customers by the holidays. They also are looking at an online ordering system for cinnamon rolls and other baked goods, allowing customers to order six to 12 items to-go.
Perch recently finished an outdoor patio that created seating for 50 more people, and includes several gas fire pits for warmth.
“At the time I purchased the building, I didn’t know that I would become both the landlord and the tenant, opening Perch with three seasoned veterans in the food and coffee business, and opening my new law firm, Halbach|Szwarc Law Firm above.”
-Alex Halbach
Looking ahead, a final project is completing construction on an outdoor beer and coffee bar with a glass garage door.
“With a roll-up glass garage door and vaulted ceilings, this space will welcome the outdoors in, and will add yet another activated space for people to gather and enjoy,” said Halbach.
Last but not least, Perch will wrap construction on a 60-person rooftop patio, which Halbach says will be unlike anything that is presently in Sioux Falls.
The outside-of-the-box thinking doesn’t stop there, as the team is in talks of working on a party/rental option for private events, and they’re tossing around the idea of evening hours that would include appetizers, beer, and wine.
“The potential to grow our offerings to meet our customers’ needs are great,” said Halbach. “We understand we have an opportunity to provide Sioux Falls with a unique offering unlike anything else in the city, and that requires us to push the boundaries of our food and service to provide that experience.”
