City Grill

Russ Hanson
Executive Vice President
AGC of North Dakota

“Fargo’s diverse offering to its citizens is a mix of business, education and agricultural-related industries—all while maintaining a safe quality of life more typical of small towns,” Hanson says.

“Within the past month, one of the area’s largest-valued construction projects [Sanford Hospital] opened after being under construction for several years. It not only offers state-of-the-art health care but also is leading to development nearby with construction of hotels and hospitality options. Along with that will come further road and water infrastructure needs,” he says.

“The downtown area is key to Fargo, and there are always projects being constructed or maintained,” he says. “The main buzz currently is about Block 9, a multimillion-dollar project to be completed in 2019. It proposes an 18-story downtown tower that includes a hotel, businesses and condominiums.

“A main concern of the construction industry is the overall downturn of construction funding availability after several years of record-setting construction budgets. Also, workforce development continues to be a big concern,” he adds.