A ceremony was held this morning to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new mixed-use parking garage on the corner of Fourth Avenue North and Broadway in Downtown Fargo.
The Mercantile project represents a public-private partnership between the City of Fargo, Kilbourne Group, and Tom and Kari Smith, owners of the historic Great Northern Depot adjacent to the site. The first phase of the project is a City-owned six-story parking garage of 369 spaces to be added to the City’s public parking supply.
The garage will be wrapped on all sides with mixed-use and residential private development. Plans for the six-story, mixed-use portion of the project, to be built by Kilbourne Group, include space for a Fargo Police Department substation, a parking office, public restrooms, approximately 100 apartments for rent, and 16,922 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Smith intends to add nine owner-occupied housing units, to be called The Great Northern Block, to the North side of the project.
“Downtown is the vibrant core of our community and it continues to grow and evolve.” – Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.
“The Mercantile project will add to downtown Fargo’s parking supply AND create entirely new experiences downtown that are uniquely Fargo,” said Kilbourne Group President Mike Allmendinger. “This infill project replaces a surface parking lot of 85 stalls with a 369-stall garage to support residents, restaurants, retail customers and office workers. The 400 Block of Broadway is lined with strong, established retail and we are excited to contribute to this already vibrant area. Our goal of filling in this corner is to increase walkability and activate the area even more by injecting new residential and retail experiences on Broadway.”
The project has been dubbed Mercantile in homage to the four-story brick structure which was built in 1909 for Fargo Mercantile Co., a wholesale grocer. Designed by the Hancock Brothers and constructed by C.H. Johnson & Co., the building was demolished in 1966. The Goodyear Service Center was constructed in 1968 and served the downtown community for 48 years before closing in 2016.
