| By Dave Isak Dinesen | This article originally appeared on InForum
One year after breaking ground, the $60M downtown Fargo project is rising fast, led by a 6-story parking ramp and plans for housing, a theater and a hotel.
The parking ramp at NP Avenue as of May 2025
FARGO — One year after construction crews broke ground on a $60 million redevelopment project in downtown Fargo, the transformation along NP Avenue is well underway.
On May 1, 2024 , the site was little more than an aging parking lot. Today, it has grown into a six-story parking ramp that will soon offer 465 spaces and anchor several additional developments, including the future homes of The Avery apartments and the Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre.
View of the soon to be orchestra pit of the Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre and Parking Garage
“To be here a year later this month, standing on the top of this, is quite an accomplishment,” said Jim Gilmour, Fargo’s strategic planning director.
The parking structure is the largest ever built in downtown Fargo and serves as the centerpiece for a broader redevelopment plan. Adjacent construction will soon include a new apartment complex and a relocated community theater, which was displaced from its longtime home in Island Park after being demolished in 2019.
“We’ve kinda got to put this up first before you can build everything around it,” Gilmour said, referring to the parking ramp’s foundational role.
Future work will also impact the Old Broadway and the historic Herbst building. Randy Thorson, co-owner of Old Broadway, said the area is poised to include a hotel once the current phase wraps up.
“It’s going to be developed into a hotel at some point — we’re waiting for this project to be finished,” Thorson said. “We’ve re-done the kitchen and the dining area in the Old Broadway with the idea that this was all going to get done.”
Developers say the project aims to modernize the area while still honoring Fargo’s past. That philosophy is embedded in the branding of The Avery, a name referencing the historic Avery tractors.
“Nothing we build is built just because it’s going to be an apartment (building),” said Sammi Harwood, director of marketing for Kilbourne Group. “We want there to be history behind it … We want there to be somewhere where people are building community.”
City officials say the parking ramp is expected to open by August. The apartment complex and community theater are projected to be complete by late 2026.
Construction to accommodate changes to NP Avenue itself is expected to begin in the coming months.
“Eighteen months from now, it’ll all be up and going and working great,” Gilmour said. “That’s our hope.”
