Dome Upgrades

[bisonaudit]

Heard a guy who would have reason to know (on FM EDC Board) say the proposal is convention space and 'dome upgrades (enough lavatories!) for a price that may exceed $120 million. The design proposal problem is tight parking just got even more cramped if you add building footprint. And it doesn't add seats to the 'dome. And there's nowhere for an attached hotel (as that would put parking down to none).

Fargo doesn't have a true hotel + convention center complex and it should have one.
Bismarck? The Bismarck (formerly Ramkota) Hotel should be razed. The building inspectors out there must have seeing-eye dogs.

The best true hotel + convention center complex in the State still is the Canad Inn/Alerus Center.

The Tyranny of the automobile strikes again. Land goes unused 95 percent of the time just so we can park our dunking cars 10 Saturdays every fall.

[NDSU92]

If the upgrades don't involve bringing back The Rainforest, count me out

Criminal what they did to that pristine bit of nature

[El_Chapo]

If the upgrades don't involve bringing back The Rainforest, count me out

Criminal what they did to that pristine bit of nature

its still the biggest travesty in ndsu history

[HerdBot]

Heard a guy who would have reason to know (on FM EDC Board) say the proposal is convention space and 'dome upgrades (enough lavatories!) for a price that may exceed $120 million. The design proposal problem is tight parking just got even more cramped if you add building footprint. And it doesn't add seats to the 'dome. And there's nowhere for an attached hotel (as that would put parking down to none).

Fargo doesn't have a true hotel + convention center complex and it should have one.
Bismarck? The Bismarck (formerly Ramkota) Hotel should be razed. The building inspectors out there must have seeing-eye dogs.

The best true hotel + convention center complex in the State still is the Canad Inn/Alerus Center.

The Convention Center attached to the dome will really be a totally separate project and will most likely be the FMCVB. 120 million would be surprisingly easy to do. I was listening to Charley Johnson speak at some public meeting and by raising the hotel tax by 1% and bonding it, it would raise a really huge amount of money. I can't remember the amount but it was big. He said it is currently low and it could be raised 2%. Of course you always have naming rights and other revenue sources. The convention center will likely add restrooms and concourse space to the SE corner and wrap it around to the front.

Any additonal seating improvements and concourse improvements will be done in phases and probably paid for by the dome surplus. With 50 million bucks to work with, they could finance it or spread it out over several years, like they did with the video boards.

The Alerus has a pretty good deal and they are looking at adding an indoor aquatics center as well. OT but the Alerus already lacks parking. Thats going to be crammed.

The Fargodome/NDSU is looking at selling/leasing some of the land on the south east corner of the dome to a hotel. The funds could go towards the project. They would then connect the hotel with a skyway and ultimately connect it to the SHAC for one of the biggest indoor facilities in the nation. Probably not enough space for a huge hotel but big enough for conventions. The area around the dome really needs a hotel/restaurant on site and that would solve it

I think there is plenty parking there. You got all the NDSU lots, street parking and all the private lots. Worst case if there is a hotel, maybe the hotel can build a 100 spot parking ramp. Maybe split the cost with the dome.

If I'm the city, I might look at the EOLA project with the water park / hotel and I strike a deal with Epic Companies and make the 1st floor of one of the 7 buildings into a convention center. Some sort of private/public partnership. That's going to be one heck of project.

We also got the 90k SF Drekker Brewhalla building which will fill some of the medium sized conventions. The place is going to have a hotel in it. I guarantee that place will be popular AF

But Fargo needs more indoor space. They stopped booking events at the Civic and tore the hall space down, so we really have less space than we did 15 years ago and the population has increased obviously

[The_Sicatoka]

If I'm the city, I might look at the EOLA project with the water park / hotel and I strike a deal with Epic Companies and make the 1st floor of one of the 7 buildings into a convention center. That's going to be one heck of project.

You just uncovered a hidden aspect of the problem.

The north end (Fargodome) is viewed as having its center and has the noted shortcomings and a lack of additional nearby hotels and eateries. There will likely be a battle between the north, the EOLA area, a south (I-29 at 52nd or 64th) area, and even downtown or a wildcard* for final placement of a true convention center with suitable nearby amenities.


*With the slow death of most malls, could the West Acres site be re-envisioned.

[HerdBot]

You just uncovered a hidden aspect of the problem.

The north end (Fargodome) is viewed as having its center and has the noted shortcomings and a lack of additional nearby hotels and eateries. There will likely be a battle between the north, the EOLA area, a south (I-29 at 52nd or 64th) area, and even downtown for final placement of a true convention center.

I think we need more than just 1 convention center. We had more space 15 years ago when they opened Scheels Arena and we had the Civic Center with the Centennial Hall. They tore down the centennial hall to make space for the City Hall

Epic might want to do a convention center on their own. EOLA will have a 50k SF water park, a tube hill and is surrounded by entertainment options

Since 2007, the population has grown by 50k for the metro.

[The_Sicatoka]

The Alerus has a pretty good deal and they are looking at adding an indoor aquatics center as well. OT but the Alerus already lacks parking. Thats going to be crammed.

I keep telling them they need a monorail running from Alerus north to UND CAS then east to the Union then north to REA then UND Med.
You'd tie all the major lots together and could use it in place of the existing campus shuttle bus system.

Here's my sales pitch. It worked in Shelbyville.

[HerdBot]

I keep telling them they need a monorail running from Alerus north to UND CAS then east to the Union then north to REA then UND Med.
You'd tie all the major lots together and could use it in place of the existing campus shuttle bus system.

Here's my sales pitch. It worked in Shelbyville.

A bullet train lol

[The_Sicatoka]

A bullet train lol

Well ... yea-a-a-aah, doncha know.

The bullet train Phase 1 runs from Fargo Hector Airport to UND CAS. You park in the parking ramp at Hector and get on. That UND CAS station would also be a stop of the GF/UND Monorail.

Phase 2 goes FAR to MSP. Phase 3 is FAR to Sioux Falls and Phase 4 is GFK to WPG. By then we'll need Phase 5: FAR to BIS.

[HerdBot]

Well ... yea-a-a-aah, doncha know.

The bullet train Phase 1 runs from Fargo Hector Airport to UND CAS. You park in the parking ramp at Hector and get on. That UND CAS station would also be a stop of the GF/UND Monorail.

Phase 2 goes FAR to MSP. Phase 3 is FAR to Sioux Falls and Phase 4 is GFK to WPG. By then we'll need Phase 5: FAR to BIS.

It's gotta be called the D2 NCC Rail Network and it can run parallel with I-29 and link, Grand Forks, Fargo, Brookings, Omaha, Kansas City and Tulsa. Vermillion isn't worthy enough, so they get a bus ride from Brookings. St Thomas will be going to the Big 10 anyways and nobody gives a shit about WIU. Denver, not sure