In 2012, the City of Rapid City, South Dakota, retained the team of Fennel Design and Counsilman-Hunsaker to assess their existing aquatic facility at Horace Mann Park and to provide options for renovation or replacement of the existing 50-meter pool which had reached physical and functional obsolescence. The team developed three concepts and provided an analysis for revenue and expense, construction costs, project costs, attendance, and operating revenue to give a complete picture of what each facility would cost to build and operate.

Based on the results of the study, the city once again retained the team of Fennel Design and Counsilman-Hunsaker to replace the existing 50-meter pool at Horace Mann Park with a new 200,000-gallon outdoor aquatic center featuring a lap pool, recreation pool, and waterslide tower.