FARGO — Fargo’s quest to achieve a new convention center and hotel complex will likely involve a two-part request-for-proposal process that could get under way in late April.
That’s according to officials who attended a Fargo Convention Center Project Committee meeting held Friday, March 14, at Fargo City Hall.
Mallari Ackerman, director of sales for Visit Fargo-Moorhead and a member of the committee, said an initial request for proposals could be issued by the end of April.
Fargo Convention Center Project Committee members as well as city commissioners and city staff attend a meeting of the committee on Friday, March 14, 2025.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Officials said would-be developers would then have about a month to submit responses focusing on factors such as location of the project, information about the team bringing forth the idea, and concept drawings.
The first group of respondents would be narrowed down to a smaller list of potential developers who would be asked to submit more detailed proposals, according to Ackerman and Jim Gilmour, Fargo’s director of strategic planning and research.
Charley Johnson, president and CEO of Visit Fargo-Moorhead,
has said Fargo needs a convention center with at least 70,000 square feet of meeting space
to attract large events that have gone to other cities, such as Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and St. Cloud, Duluth and Rochester in Minnesota.
Johnson suggested such a convention center would be connected to a new hotel with 150-200 rooms.
During Friday’s meeting of the convention center committee, officials talked about a potential price tag for a convention center/hotel complex of between $40 million and $45 million, with that amount covering the cost of land and construction.
Also discussed at Friday’s meeting was a planned trip by committee members and others to the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud and the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
Tour participants plan to leave Fargo early on Monday, March 24, with a return trip set for the afternoon of Tuesday, March 25.
In visiting the facilities, Ackerman said officials will be looking for aspects and features that could be useful in planning Fargo’s convention center, as she said the St. Cloud and Rochester communities share similarities with the Fargo-Moorhead area when it comes to market factors and demographics.
Fargo City Commissioner Denise Kolpack raises a point during a Fargo Convention Center Project Committee meeting held on Friday, March 14.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Fargo City Commissioner Denise Kolpack shared with committee members that she recently visited a convention center in Louisville, Kentucky, and was impressed by how the facility created for visitors a strong sense of what Kentucky and Louisville are all about.
Kolpack said at the point local proposals are brought forward an important question to ask developers would be how their project might do something similar for Fargo and the surrounding area.
“How does it reinforce the uniqueness?” Kolpack said.
Gilmour said an important aspect of any proposal submitted is the degree to which a developer has secured rights to a potential location for a project, noting the city is looking for developers with “site control.”
Kolpack suggested it may be worthwhile for the city to consider proposals that have attractive aspects to them even if control of a proposed site still requires some nailing down.
Dave Olson is a reporter, photographer and occasional videographer. He graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a degree in mass communications, and during his time at The Forum he has covered many beats, from cops and courts to business and education. Currently is writing business stories, but jumps on daily news as needed. He’s also written about UFOs, ghosts, dinosaur bones and the dwarf planet Pluto. You may reach Dave at 701-241-5555, or by email at dolson@forumcomm.com.
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