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While many businesses downtown have been continually adapting to our new normal, projects looking to the future are still well underway. Here are some of the latest project updates for the summer of 2020 in downtown Fargo!
Every city needs a gathering space, and Broadway Square is designed to be just that. Programmed by Fargo Park District, it includes a band shell for outdoor live performances, interactive water features for kids (and adults of course) and will double as a groomed ice–skating rink in the winter.
On July 16, 2020, the Block 9 plaza was named Broadway Square and the Block 9 Partners, Kilbourne Group and R.D. Offutt Company, recognized the Fargo Park District as manager of the space. Ana Rusness-Peterson has joined Fargo Parks to lead programming and community engagement for Broadway Square. She brings a wealth of experience from cool cities all over the nation and has big plans for turning the Square into a reflection of all that is unique and special about Fargo.
“Broadway Square will be a space that mindfully seeks out, engages, empowers, listens to, and represents the entire range of voices in our community,” says Rusness-Peterson.
Construction is in full swing with underground utilities work, followed by the hardscape installation. Broadway Square is scheduled to celebrate its opening in conjunction with the Xcel Energy Holiday Lights Parade on November 24, 2020.
Share what you’d like to see at Broadway Square here.
Community members gathered during a Fargo Park District event that revealed the Broadway Square name.
A rendering of what Broadway Square will look like in the summer months, courtesy of Confluence landscape architects.
As a public-private partnership, the Mercantile project adds living, working, and retail to downtown Fargo along the 400 block of Broadway, which is already known for its eclectic shopping and dining.
Phase I is a city-owned 370-stall parking garage constructed by Kilbourne Construction Management. The final precast wall panel erection is complete. This major milestone means the garage is “topped out” and in its final form. Interior work is progressing with concrete flooring, electrical and mechanical finishes.
The garage is expected to be complete in October 2020.
Construction on the Mercantile privately-owned mixed-use development is underway. All piles are installed, and excavation has started. Concrete work on the foundation begins in August. The mixed-use development is scheduled to be completed mid-December 2021.
Named for the four-story brick structure that stood on the site from 1909 to 1966, the six-story Mercantile project includes 100 apartments for rent and 16,922 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, to include a Fargo Police Department substation and public bathrooms. A neighboring building owner is also developing nine for-sale condominiums along the north side of the garage in conjunction with the project.
Learn more about the Mercantile project here.
The original Mercantile building constructed in 1909. Image courtesy of the NDSU Archives.
The demolition of the original Mercantile building in 1966. Image courtesy of the NDSU Archives.
Construction is well under way for the first phase of the new Mercantile project, the city-owned 370-stall parking ramp.
A rendering of the complete Mercantile project, courtesy of JLG Architects.
As crews finish the exterior, the interior of the building is being transformed through interior framing, electrical, mechanical and plumbing rough-ins, drywall, and other building finishes. While it is often referred to as a single Block 9 project, there are more than half a dozen active, and separate, projects happening within the building. Each has a separate design team, construction team and ownership team.
The project’s primary tenants, R.D. Offutt Company and the Block 9 hotel, account for about two-thirds of the overall building square footage. The current schedule has the construction of these projects wrapping up in late 2020, with move-ins/openings to happen shortly afterwards. We are excited for the upcoming unveilings of both.
Image courtesy of Michael Smith Photography.
Construction on the Kesler project at 624 2nd Avenue North is set to begin in August 2020. The project is named after the original Kesler block, which is listed in city directories as a mixed-use block of apartments over ground floor retail existing until 1976. By 1977, it is listed as a parking lot.
Today, we begin the work of rebuilding the site as a mixed-use project to include a 2-level (one underground) 69–stall parking ramp, almost 9,000 square feet of first floor retail, and 109 apartments.
Phase I of construction includes installation of an earth retention system, followed by excavation and concrete work. After nearly 45 years as a surface parking lot, the Kesler project is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2022.
Image courtesy of the NDSU Archives.
Rendering courtesy of T.L. Stroh Architects.
To learn more about retail and office space in downtown Fargo, visit In Good Company here.
For more on available apartments, click here.
KILBOURNE GROUP
210 Broadway, Suite 300
Fargo, ND 58102