OCTOBER 2026
WITH
ANDY WESTBY
// OCTOBER 2026
FEATURES
PARTNER CONTENT
44
The Office, Made to Fit
72
Built for Business. Designed for People.
26
Examining the Market with Andy Westby
34
The Ones Who Built the Metro
50
A Different Kind of Care
56
Office Tour! With Connect Interiors
76
The Contractor’s Perspective
80
The Business Owner’s Perspective
84
The Next Map of Fargo-Moorhead
94
The Hidden Costs of AI
100
A Scoreboard for the Second Half
106
Your 2027 Plan Starts with Three Numbers
110
Don’t Invest Before You Validate Demand
116
10 Questions with John Machacek: Nick Beste (Full Service Foods)
Follow Fargo INC! on Facebook, LinkedIn and X
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76
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E d i t o r ’s n o t e
T
Before You Make
he exciting part is easy to picture—your name on the building, a better space for your team, room to take on the work you used to turn away. Then come the questions. Should you lease, buy, build, or renovate? What will the space cost once you can operate in it? Who needs to be involved before you commit? And how do you keep running a business while making decisions about its next home?
Those questions are why we put together this commercial real estate issue.
to a business than an impressive exterior.
The right space should support how you work today while leaving room for the business you are trying to become.
In these pages, we’re looking at that decision-making from several perspectives. Andy Westby helps put the local market in context. Hans Grafstrom shares what business owners should understand before a construction project begins. Brooke Erstad brings the client’s perspective, including what it takes to make improvements while continuing to serve the people who rely on your business.
At Fargo INC!, we spend a lot of time talking about business growth. Real estate is where those ambitions become tangible, and where the details deserve just as much attention as the vision. An extra room, a different layout, or a more accessible entrance might matter more
Your Move Together, those conversations offer something more useful than a declaration that the market is good or bad. They help readers consider what market conditions and a particular property mean for their own operation. My hope is that this issue gives you a few better questions to bring into your next conversation with a broker, contractor, or business partner.
You don’t need to be ready to break ground to benefit from understanding your options. Sometimes, the most valuable progress happens before anything gets built.
Brady Drake Fargo INC! Editor
Brady Drake, Fargo INC! Editor
fargoinc@spotlightmediafargo.com
OCTOBER 2026 Volume 11 Issue 10
Fargo INC! is published 12 times a year and is available at area businesses and online at FargoInc.com.
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Mike Dragosavich Brady Drake Brady@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Kim Cowles Ty Betts Connect Interiors, Sagency, Michael Danielson (VBOC), Wendy Klug (SBA), John Machacek (GFMEDC) Kellen Feeney Megan Suedbeck Matthew Haire Sarah Cabler Sara Jentink Mhairi Christopherson Tammy Fogle Paul Hoefer Paul@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Al Anderson Al@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Abby Schauer Abby@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Matt Purpur Matt@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Cooper Opheim Cooper@spotlightmediafargo.com ClientRelations@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Jessica Ventzke Tyler Duclos Missy Roberts John Stuber
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By David Reid, President & Owner, Radiant Homes
ASK THE EXPERT
By Caden Nestler, Sales, Project Coordinator, and Lighting Designer
hen you walk into a special event, what do you notice first? It is rarely the individual lights hanging overhead. It is the feel of the room. It is the deep colors on the walls, the subtle patterns projected onto the backdrop, and the inviting glow on stage that lets everyone know the program is about to start.
between functional lighting and theatrical lighting.
At Livewire, we love creating those moments with theatrical lighting. But as lighting specialists, we know a basic truth: a great-looking room doesn’t mean much if the audience (and the camera crew) can’t clearly see the person speaking.
Functional lighting is the practical workhorse of event production. Its main job is to illuminate the stage so presenters look clear, sharp, and natural. When it is done right, nobody gives it a second thought. When it goes wrong, harsh glares blind the speaker, dark shadows cover their eyes, or bad color choices leave them looking washed out on screen. By carefully angling, focusing, and softening front lights, we ensure even coverage that keeps speakers comfortable while giving our video team clean, clear shots for live streams and screens.
Delivering a great experience comes down to finding the right balance
While functional lighting provides clarity, theatrical lighting sets the tone.
Livewire
This is where rich color washes, textured patterns, and accent lights turn a plain room into an engaging space. Theatrical lighting creates atmosphere, draws the eye where it needs to go, and adds depth to drapes and stage sets. The goal is to make both work together. You shouldn’t have to choose between a comfortable, impressive room and a well-lit speaker. Lighting is a practical tool that shapes how people experience your event. By balancing clear visibility with a great room feel, your speakers stay focused, your audience stays engaged, and your message comes through loud and clear. Contact the Livewire team today to start planning your next event!
By Brady Drake |
Photographer
EXAMINING THE MARKET WITH
ANDY WESTBY
ndy Westby has spent his career working with businesses—first in technology and, since 2015, in commercial real estate. As president and managing broker of Goldmark Commercial Real Estate, he brings experience in office and industrial sales and leasing, along with commercial and agricultural land transactions. A North Dakota State University graduate who grew up around his family’s farming, real estate, and auctioneering businesses, Westby joined Goldmark after 15 years in the technology industry and assumed his current leadership role in 2019. For this issue, Westby provided a detailed look at the numbers shaping commercial real estate across Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead. In the following interview, he explains the differences behind those numbers, from tightening industrial availability to the challenges facing traditional office space. He also explores the gap between construction costs and achievable rents, commonly overlooked occupancy expenses, and why a business owner’s decision to lease, buy or build should begin with the business plan—not the building.
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OCTOBER 2026
CONTINUED
Q: WHICH NUMBER BEST DESCRIBES THE CURRENT STATE OF THE FARGOMOORHEAD COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET?
part after taking a big hit at the onset of COVID in early 2020.
A: If I had to choose one number, it would be the 2.09% industrial vacancy rate. That illustrates just how tight the industrial market has gotten, particularly after what was a rough 2025 for industrial leasing activity. During the past 9 months, industrial leasing activity has boomed, and is up approximately 128% YOY, with nearly 1 million square feet leased through the MLS in the past year. That number doesn’t describe every property type, however. Office vacancy has struggled some, hovering in the low double digits for some time now, while retail vacancy is relatively healthy at around 5.0%, so each asset class is in a different position at this point in time.
A: Industrial clearly has the strongest fundamentals. The current MLS vacancy rate is approximately 2.09%, compared with 4.96% for retail and 10.11% for office. Industrial leasing activity over the first 8+ months of 2026 is approximately 861k square feet, an increase of roughly 412% from the first 8+ months of 2025.
Q: WHAT HAS CHANGED MOST SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE 2019? A: The most significant change has been the growing disconnect between the cost of developing new commercial property and the rents many tenants are accustomed to paying. Construction costs, land prices, interest rates, insurance, and other operating expenses have all increased substantially since 2019. Lease rates have increased too, but often not enough to make speculative construction economically feasible. We have also seen industrial demand become a much larger driver of the market, while office users have become more selective about how much space they need and what type of environment will bring employees back to the workplace. Retail has held its own and rebounded quite well for the most
Q: WHICH PROPERTY TYPE CURRENTLY HAS THE STRONGEST FUNDAMENTALS?
Demand is especially strong for buildings that provide a practical combination of warehouse space, satisfactory office finish, good loading, adequate clear height, outdoor storage, and convenient access. Those requirements can be difficult to satisfy simultaneously, which makes quality industrial properties particularly valuable.
Q: WHICH PART OF THE MARKET FACES THE GREATEST CHALLENGES? A: Traditional office space faces the greatest challenges. That does not mean there is no office demand, but tenants are generally more deliberate about the amount and quality of space they occupy, with many tenants reducing their footprints or waiting longer before making decisions. The current office vacancy rate is approximately 10.1%, and the median office listing has been on the market for about 440 days. Class A office space is experiencing an even longer reported median marketing period and has seen a huge slowdown in lease activity over the past few quarters. Buildings with large floorplates that don’t subdivide well
(10k+ SF) are also very hard to lease right now, as large users do not seem to be in the market at this time.
Q: WHERE IS THE MARKET CURRENTLY UNDERSUPPLIED OR OVERSUPPLIED? A: The industrial market quickly went into an undersupplied status given the rush of leasing activity we have seen in 2026. That is particularly true for mid-to-larger-sized spaces with dock access and outdoor storage. Larger industrial users will have difficulty right now finding spaces that meet their requirements. The market is comparatively oversupplied in certain categories of traditional office space, especially older or larger office suites that have not been updated. I would not describe all office space as oversupplied, however. There can still be limited availability for smaller, move-in-ready offices in desirable locations. The oversupply is concentrated in particular building types, sizes, and conditions rather than distributed evenly across the entire office market.
Q: WHAT SIZES AND TYPES OF SPACES ARE TENANTS SEEKING MOST OFTEN? A: Demand is generally strongest for spaces that allow a business to avoid taking on substantially more square footage than it needs. In industrial, we frequently see demand for approximately 2,500 to 10,000 square feet, often with one or more overhead doors, limited office finish, and some ability to store materials or equipment outside. There is also continued demand from larger industrial users, but those searches tend to be more specialized and can take longer because of requirements related to dock access,
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EXAMINING THE MARKET WITH ANDY WESTBY
clear heights, power, yard space, and more. Office users commonly seek smaller, efficient suites often in the 1,500 to 5,000-square-foot range. Most focus on suites that are already finished or require minimal renovation. Retail demand is often concentrated in roughly 1,200 to 4,000 square feet blocks, with high visibility, good signage, ample parking, and strong access often more important than just achieving a fair rent.
Q: WHICH PARTS OF THE METRO ARE SEEING THE STRONGEST DEMAND? A: Demand continues to follow population growth, transportation access, and strong traffic patterns. South/southwest Fargo and West Fargo remain attractive for retail, service businesses, and medical users because of residential growth and strong traffic patterns. The I-94 and I-29 corridors continue to be important for businesses that need regional access as well. North Fargo, western West Fargo, and eastern Moorhead are all receiving attention for industrial development because of their strong interstate access and availability of larger sites. West Fargo has absorbed much of its commercial land, with the remaining pockets seeing strong demand, while Moorhead continues to see resurgence and investment in their Downtown corridor. Ultimately, demand is becoming increasingly property-specific. Access, visibility, parking, area amenities, and building functionality can matter more than the city name on the address in many cases.
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OCTOBER 2026
Q: IS THERE ENOUGH INDUSTRIAL, WAREHOUSE, AND FLEX SPACE TO MEET CURRENT DEMAND? A: Not in most categories. The overall industrial vacancy rate is only about 2.09%, so tenants with flexibility may find options, but businesses with specific requirements often have very few legitimate choices. The shortage is most noticeable in functional mid-sized or larger industrial spaces, but even small-bay industrial demand can be limited depending on the specific area of the metro you are looking for. A tenant may see several properties advertised, but after eliminating spaces that are too large, too small, poorly configured or missing an essential feature, the actual list of viable alternatives can become very short.
Q: ARE CURRENT LEASE RATES HIGH ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY NEW CONSTRUCTION? A: In many cases, no…at least not for purely speculative construction. Current ALL-IN average asking rents metro-wide are approximately $10.50 PSF for industrial, $20.25 PSF for retail, and $19 PSF for office. Those average rates rarely support new development in certain locations or for certain building types, as construction costs, financing costs, and required investment returns have increased considerably. New construction is most feasible when a developer has a committed tenant, a longer lease term, appropriate annual rent increases and limited tenant-specific improvements, or when the owneruser values ownership beyond the property’s immediate investment return. Speculative projects must be carefully sized and positioned because the rent required to justify
construction may be noticeably higher than the rent on older competing properties.
Q: WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE LOCAL COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET? A: One misconception is that a single vacancy rate tells the whole story. Commercial real estate is not one market. Office, retail, and industrial behave differently, and even within those categories, results vary substantially by location, size, condition, and functionality. You really must analyze a property and the market by multiple factors to determine if the deal you are getting into is a good or bad one. People also frequently underestimate the total cost and time involved in occupying a commercial property. Base rent is only one component. Costs such as CAM (which usually includes taxes, insurance, etc.), utilities, tenant improvements, furniture, equipment, and even parking costs can materially change the economics. A space that appears inexpensive may be the more costly option once all expenses are considered. Finally, some assume that commercial property values should move in the same direction (i.e. UP!) every year. Commercial property is valued on income, lease quality, occupancy, operating expenses, and investment returns. If a property’s income hasn’t changed in years but the expenses have gone higher, along with cap rates increasing because of rising interest rates, buildings can easily be worth less today than they were just a few short years ago. Many owners find that a bitter pill to swallow.
CONTINUED
Q: WHAT SHOULD LOCAL BUSINESS OWNERS UNDERSTAND BEFORE DECIDING WHETHER TO LEASE, BUY, BUILD, OR SELL? A: The decision should begin with the business plan, not the building. Owners should consider how much space they actually need, how quickly they may grow, how specialized the property must be, how much capital they can commit, and how long they expect to remain in the location. Leasing generally provides more flexibility and requires less capital upfront. Buying can build equity and provide greater control, but it also ties up cash and makes the business responsible for maintenance and capital improvements. Building offers the best opportunity to create exactly what the business needs, but it typically requires the most time and capital. Owners should also compare the complete economics rather than simply comparing monthly rent to a mortgage payment. That analysis should include tenant improvements, CAM, taxes, insurance, maintenance, financing costs, down payment, opportunity cost, and the potential long-term value of the property. Additionally, businesses should begin the process earlier than they think necessary. Lease negotiations, purchase due diligence, financing, design, permitting, and construction can take months, or even years. Starting early gives the business more options and far more negotiating leverage. A commercial real estate decision can affect a company’s cash flow, operations and ability to grow for many years, so it deserves the same level of planning as any other major business investment. Most importantly, businesses should also surround themselves
with experienced professionals who understand the local market and have access to objective, reliable data. Asking rents and sale prices only tell part of the story. A knowledgeable commercial real estate advisor can help a business understand actual market conditions, identify opportunities that may not be publicly advertised, evaluate competing options, negotiate appropriate terms, and anticipate issues that could otherwise become costly. For a new development, that team may also need to include experienced professionals in design, construction, financing, land use, and legal matters.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Industrial is the metro’s strongest and tightest property sector. With industrial vacancy at just 2.09%, the Fargo-Moorhead market has very limited available warehouse, flex, and manufacturing space—especially midsized and larger buildings with loading docks, sufficient clear height, outdoor storage, and strong interstate access. Industrial leasing has surged in 2026, making functional space increasingly difficult for tenants to secure. The market is highly segmented, with office facing the most pressure. Commercial real estate cannot be defined by one vacancy figure. Retail remains relatively healthy at about 5.0% vacancy, while office vacancy is roughly 10.1% and traditional office listings are taking much longer to lease. Demand is strongest for smaller, move-in-ready office suites, while older, larger, and less-flexible office spaces face the greatest oversupply and leasing challenges. Higher development costs are reshaping business decisions and limiting new supply. Since 2019, rising construction costs, land prices, interest rates, insurance, and operating expenses have outpaced rent growth in many cases. As a result, speculative development is often difficult to justify unless a project has a committed tenant or specialized ownership strategy. Business owners considering leasing, buying, building, or selling should evaluate total occupancy costs—not just rent or mortgage payments—and begin planning early to preserve options and negotiating leverage.
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EXAMINING THE MARKET WITH ANDY WESTBY
FARGO-MOORHEAD COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS AS OF SEPTEMBER 2026 | FARGO, WEST FARGO AND MOORHEAD
The market snapshot compares September 18, 2026, with September 30, 2025. Leasing data reflects the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and does not include off-market activity.
MEASURE
OFFICE
RETAIL
INDUSTRIAL
Current vacancy rate
10.11%
4.96%
2.09%
Year-earlier vacancy rate
10.86%
4.00%
4.66%
Square feet currently listed for lease
1,325,750
729,103
848,182
Square feet listed one year earlier
1,423,366
588,291
1,888,604
Current active listings
216
170
76
Active listings one year earlier
238
137
89
Median age of current listings
440 days
377 days
182 days
Median listing age one year earlier
364 days
442 days
179 days
The days-on-market figures describe active listings—not the typical time it takes to complete a lease.
ASKING RENTS
Average asking rents per square foot, as listed in the report’s September snapshot. “Total rent” combines base rent and CAM charges; it does not represent every expense associated with occupying a property.
PROPERTY TYPE
BASE RENT
CAM CHARGES
TOTAL RENT
YEAR-EARLIER TOTAL
Office—all classes
$15.55
$3.34
$18.89
$18.36
Office: Class A
$19.54
$6.81
$26.35
$25.77
Office: Class B
$15.40
$3.01
$18.41
$17.88
Office: Class C
$11.38
$0.95
$12.33
$12.35
Retail
$17.24
$5.06
$22.30
$22.59
Industrial
$9.19
$1.26
$10.45
$10.36
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OCTOBER 2026
CONTINUED These figures compare the latest 12 months with the preceding 12 months, rather than calendar-year totals.
LEASING ACTIVITY How Much Space Was Leased?
PROPERTY TYPE
LATEST 12 MONTHS
PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS
CHANGE
Office
174,900 sq ft
217,097 sq ft
-19.44%
Retail
119,037 sq ft
175,032 sq ft
-31.99%
Industrial
996,286 sq ft
437,523sq ft
+127.71%
Total
1,290,223 sq ft
829,652 sq ft
+55.51%
How Many Listings Were Leased? These are the listing counts reported in the MLS leasing activity table.
PROPERTY TYPE
LATEST 12 MONTHS
PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS
Office
83
108
Retail
42
52
Industrial
74
69
Total
199
229
RATES REPORTED ON LEASED LISTINGS
These figures describe leased listings during the latest 12-month period, rather than the current asking rents shown above. All rates are per square foot.
PROPERTY TYPE
AVERAGE BASE RENT
AVERAGE CAM CHARGES
TOTAL RENT
Office
$14.72
$2.50 PSF
$17.22 PSF
Retail
$18.17
$5.29
$23.46
Industrial
$9.22
$0.82
$10.04
PROPERTY SALES
$524.3 Million in Total Sales The report recorded 285 sales during the latest 12-month period, compared with 280 sales totaling approximately $521 million in the preceding period. Total sales dollars increased 0.62%.
PROPERTY TYPE
LATEST 12-MONTH SALES VOLUME
CHANGE FROM PRECEDING PERIOD
NUMBER OF SALES
Multifamily
$197.32 million
−11.15%
69
Industrial
$159.01 million
+57.33%
95
Retail
$59.49 million
−40.80%
27
Office
$33.23 million
−24.04%
31
Industrial land
$33.15 million
+39.52%
23
Commercial land
$25.43 million
+17.94%
30
Retail land
$16.63 million
+100.23%
10
Dollar amounts are rounded. Percentage changes measure total sales dollars—not changes in the value of an individual property.
FARGOINC.COM
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EXAMINING THE MARKET WITH ANDY WESTBY Reported Sale Prices per Square Foot
PROPERTY TYPE
LATEST 12-MONTH PERIOD
PREVIOUS 12-MONTH PERIOD
Office
$104.26
$135.86
Retail
$125.23
$181.46
Industrial
$94.39
$114.69
Multifamily
$68.32
$87.84
Commercial land
$10.65
$10.55
Retail land
$14.95
$14.64
Industrial land
$2.73
$4.74
The figures reflect the properties sold during each period; the mix of properties can change.
LARGEST REPORTED TRANSACTIONS OF 2026
The report identifies these as the largest transactions by total value within each property category.
CATEGORY
PROPERTY
SALE PRICE
SIZE
Multifamily
Undisclosed property
$25.8 million
241 units
Industrial
Ryder Warehouse, 200 9th St NE, West Fargo
$19.7 million
202,500 sq ft
Retail
Hobby Lobby, 4427 13th Ave S, Fargo
$8.25 million
95,096 sq ft
Office
Dakota Center, 51 Broadway, Fargo
$5.125 million
106,239 sq ft
Industrial land
FedEx site, 3336 52nd Ave N, Fargo
$4.978 million
38.1 acres
Retail land
Target site, 4814 38th St S, Fargo
$4.695 million
9.8 acres
Commercial land
Alexander Way/Bluestem Drive, West Fargo
$3.8 million
7.45 acres
Largest Reported Leases of 2026
PROPERTY TYPE
LARGEST LEASE
Office
7,559 sq ft
Retail
21,352 sq ft
Industrial
195,000 sq ft Year-to-date figures, limited to MLS-reported leasing activity.
DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION
Permit figures cover January through August 2026. They measure permitted activity, not completed construction.
New Commercial Real Estate Permits
CITY
PERMIT VALUE
Fargo
$187.88 million
West Fargo
$56.09 million
Moorhead
$3.81 million
Combined
$247.78 million
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OCTOBER 2026
New Multifamily Permits
CITY
PERMIT VALUE
UNITS PERMITTED
Fargo
$100.91 million
582
West Fargo
$14.25 million
57
Moorhead
$4.59 million
17
Combined
$119.75 million
656
THE SPACES BUSINESSES ARE SEEKING
The accompanying interview identifies these as commonly requested size ranges—not averages of completed leases.
PROPERTY TYPE
COMMONLY REQUESTED SIZE
Office
1,500–5,000 sq ft
Retail
1,200–4,000 sq ft
Industrial
2,500–10,000 sq ft, with additional demand from larger users
Typical Lease Lengths
TENANT OR SPACE TYPE
TYPICAL TERM
Office and retail
2–5 years
Larger, established retailers
5–10 years
Small-bay industrial
1–3 years
Larger industrial
4–10 years Lease-term ranges are the source’s market observations.
Typical Lease Incentives
PROPERTY TYPE
TENANT IMPROVEMENT ALLOWANCE
FREE-RENT RANGE ON LEASES OF 5+ YEARS
Office
$30–$60 per sq ft
3–6 months
Retail
$30–$60 per sq ft
2–4 months
Industrial
$5–$20 per sq ft
1–3 months
Office and retail improvement allowances refer to first-generation, unfinished spaces. Incentives depend on lease terms, rents and market conditions; these are not guaranteed offers.
DATA PROVIDED BY
FARGOINC.COM
33
By Brady Drake
THE ONES WHO BUILT THE METRO rom a wheat field on Fargo's edge to downtown towers, suburban neighborhoods, and adaptive-reuse landmarks, these developers changed where the region lives, works, shops, and gathers. A metro is never shaped by one blueprint. Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo grew through a series of bets: that shoppers would drive beyond Fargo's developed edge; that downtown buildings worth saving could become anchors again; that former farm ground could support complete neighborhoods; and that housing, offices, hospitality and entertainment
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OCTOBER 2026
could be assembled into districts rather than standalone projects. The developers in this article made some of the region's largest and most catalytic bets. This is not a ranking, and it is not an exhaustive list. Impact is measured here by the scale and staying power of the work, the extent to which a project redirected growth, and the developer's influence on how later projects were conceived. That also means impact is not the same thing as an honor roll. One inclusion is deliberately cautionary, because the consequences of development finance can be as lasting as the buildings themselves.
provided by West Acres
CONTINUED
BILL SCHLOSSMAN When Bill Schlossman began pursuing a regional shopping center, the location that became West Acres was not a natural choice. His first concept was tied to downtown Fargo, but after that plan failed to advance, he and local partners looked west. They acquired a wheat field near Interstate 29 and 13th Avenue South, more than a mile beyond Fargo’s developed edge. West Acres opened on August 2, 1972, with 52 stores, roughly 230,000 square feet of mall space and two department-store anchors. At the time, even 13th Avenue was not yet paved. That gamble did more than create a mall. West Acres became a regional retail destination and helped establish 13th Avenue as one of the metro’s dominant commercial corridors. Housing, restaurants, hotels, and other retailers followed the traffic. The center eventually grew to about 950,000 square feet and more than 100 stores, but its larger legacy is that it proved that a project at the edge of Fargo could move the edge itself. Much of south and west Fargo’s later growth is easier to understand when viewed as part of the urban shift West Acres helped begin.
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THE ONES WHO BUILT THE METRO
Spotlight Media
KEVIN CHRISTIANSON Kevin Christianson’s development career began after he sold a home-improvement business in 1993 and moved into hotels. Hospitality projects gave Christianson Companies experience in site selection, financing, construction, and operations, but the company’s most consequential local work came through residential land development. Christianson acquired large tracts in the mid-1990s and helped create communities including Amber Valley, Elmwood Court, Osgood, Timber Creek, and SpringHill. The scale is difficult to overstate. Christianson Companies reports developing more than 6,000 single-family lots in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Osgood alone covered roughly 900 acres, with about 100 acres dedicated to the city for the golf course. What began on Fargo’s southern edge grew into a community with homes, apartments, schools, retail, restaurants, recreation, and senior living. Later entertainment projects in Timber Creek extended that mixed-use approach. Christianson’s impact is visible in the everyday map of south Fargo: streets, lots, and neighborhood centers that allowed population growth to become a durable part of the city rather than a scattering of isolated projects.
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OCTOBER 2026
J. Alan Paul Photography
CONTINUED
DOUG BURGUM Doug Burgum founded Kilbourne Group in 2006 around the idea that downtown Fargo’s historic buildings and underused lots could support a thriving, mixed-use neighborhood. The firm’s first decade emphasized rehabilitation and preservation. Under President Mike Allmendinger’s leadership, that work expanded into larger infill projects that added housing, offices, hospitality, retail, and public space to the city’s core. The results now form much of downtown Fargo’s modern identity. The 18-story RDO Building combined a hotel, offices, restaurants, retail, and condominiums beside Broadway Square. The Mercantile added 100 apartments, nine condominiums, and about 17,000 square feet of commercial space. The Kesler and The Landing at 1001 NP continued the conversion of surface parking and marginal sites into places where people live. Kilbourne’s influence is therefore not confined to a single tower. The Avery, a $60 million-plus housing, parking, and theater complex, and Fargo’s selected downtown convention-center concept show that the same model is still shaping the city’s next chapter.
CONTINUED
THE ONES WHO BUILT THE METRO
Spotlight Media
Tyler Brandt
ACE AND TYLER BRANDT
Ace Brandt
Tyler Brandt carried that work into its next phase. Urban Plains now includes apartments, offices, trails, parks, hospitality and entertainment destinations, with Scheels Arena serving as the district’s civic anchor. Nearby projects such as Suite Shots, Kingpinz, and the Sanford Sports complex strengthened the area’s pull as a place people visit, not merely pass through. Not every building in the district belongs to the Brandts, and that is part of the impact—their land strategy and partnership model created the conditions for other institutions and developers to invest. Urban Plains helped transform south Fargo from an expanding edge into a regional destination.
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OCTOBER 2026
Provided by Tyler Brandt
Ace Brandt built a business career around the John Deere organization his family acquired in 1992, but his local development legacy is most visible in the land south of Interstate 94. In the early 2000s, the Brandt family and its partners began planning Urban Plains on what had been open fields. The ambition was broader than a conventional subdivision, with housing, offices, restaurants, recreation, and major community amenities that would reinforce one another. Ace’s support of the Metro Sports Foundation also helped advance the financing and construction of what is now Scheels Arena.
THE ONES WHO BUILT THE METRO
Provided by Eagleridge Development
Jeff Laliberte
JIM BULLIS AND JEFF LALIBERTE Jim Bullis and Jeff Laliberte founded EagleRidge Development in 2009, during a period when the housing market rewarded discipline more than bravado. The company grew from multifamily and residential land work into one of the metro’s most active developers of complete neighborhoods. EagleRidge reports a portfolio of more than 2,500 singlefamily home sites, 3,200 multifamily units and 250,000 square feet of commercial space. Its work spans south Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead, but EagleRidge Plaza best captures the company’s development philosophy. The project introduced Class A office space, residences, structured parking, and a public plaza along Veterans Boulevard, using shared amenities to make the whole district more valuable. Nearby, Northern Lights added 196 apartments and more than 11,000 square feet of office and retail space with a skyway connection into The Lights district. In communities such as Golden Valley, West Haven and Madelyn’s Meadows, parks and trails are treated as core infrastructure rather than leftover space. Bullis and Laliberte’s influence lies in that shift from selling parcels to composing places.
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Jim Bullis
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Austin Morris
Ben Meland
AUSTIN MORRIS AND BEN MELAND Austin Morris and Ben Meland founded Enclave in 2011 and built it around a unified model that includes development, design, construction, and property management working as one system. The approach gave the company tighter control over the entire life of a project, from the first sketch to leasing and operations. By 2022, Enclave said its real estate investments had surpassed $1 billion, with a platform that had expanded well beyond North Dakota. The Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo area remains the clearest showcase of that growth. Enclave has delivered a deep inventory of apartments along with medical, office, industrial, and mixed-use projects. The 212-unit Rye at Tillstone and the 102-unit Origin helped establish a new residential node in south Fargo. In West Fargo, the company designed, developed, built, and manages its 86,200-square-foot headquarters beside other professional and medical uses. New projects such as the 130-unit Merit 38 continue to add housing at a metropolitan scale. Morris and Meland’s broader contribution is organizational: they showed that a Fargo-based firm could retain a local development identity while building an integrated platform capable of competing nationally.
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THE ONES WHO BUILT THE METRO
KEVIN BARTRAM Kevin Bartram’s impact is different from that of the metro’s largest subdivision developers. Working as both an architect and a developer, he has repeatedly focused on difficult old buildings whose character would be expensive to reproduce and easy to lose. The most visible example is Fargo’s former Northern Pacific Railway repair building. Bartram acquired the abandoned 1883 structure, imagined a new use for its masonry walls and timber frame, and connected with Drekker Brewing Company. Drekker’s Brewhalla campus
Kevin was not available to be photographed
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opened there in 2018 and became a signature regional destination. Bartram has pursued the same preservation-minded logic on the east side of the Red River. The Simon Warehouse in Moorhead was converted into loft housing, giving a former industrial building a new economic life. He later acquired downtown Moorhead’s former U.S. Bank building and outlined plans for a restaurant, boutique hotel, banquet space, and revived rooftop dining concept. Those plans are still unfolding, but the pattern is established where adaptive reuse can turn an old building into the thing that gives an entire district its identity.
Made to Fit By Brady Drake |
provided by Grain Designs
A client can learn a great deal about a business on first impressions alone. The reception desk may feel temporary or permanent. A conference table can invite collaboration or make every meeting feel transactional. The proportions of an office can create ease, or force employees to spend each day working around furniture that was never designed for the room. Grant Koenig and Blain Mikkonen notice those signals because they were trained to see space before they were trained to build furniture.
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Both graduated from North Dakota State University’s architecture program. In 2013, they combined that education with a desire to build something of their own and started Grain Designs in Mikkonen’s two-stall apartment garage. What began as an experiment in reclaimed wood and irregular design has grown into a custom furniture and architectural design-build company on a 19-acre property near Fargo. The site, at 4487 165th Avenue SE in Davenport, is also home to The Pines wedding and event venues. The company still carries the logic of the garage. They look closely at the material, question the standard option, and make the object fit the life happening around it. For commercial clients, that means treating furniture as part of the business strategy.
Custom furniture is often imagined as a single dramatic conference table—the object selected after the practical office is already complete. Koenig and Mikkonen believe that definition is too narrow. A custom solution may be a reception desk shaped to manage traffic and conceal technology. It may be a set of sit-stand workstations dimensioned for an unusual floor plan, shelving that turns dead space into usable storage, or a modesty panel that carries a company’s visual identity without overwhelming the room. Power, cable management, materials, and circulation can be resolved together rather than improvised after delivery. That approach is especially valuable for businesses in which trust and longevity are part of the product. A financial firm, bank, law office, or professional-services company is asking clients to believe it will be there years from now. The physical environment either reinforces that promise or quietly works against it. Solid wood communicates differently from a thin laminate. A reception area designed around the people who use it feels different from one assembled from whichever pieces happened to be available. None of that replaces good service, but it creates the setting in which service is experienced. Grain Designs has completed office environments for more than 100 businesses. Its portfolio includes conference tables, sit-stand desks, and shelving for NorthStar Financial; desks and a podcast table for You Betcha; meeting tables and shelving for Enclave Companies; and a boardroom project for Dakota Medical Foundation using locally sourced wood and robust steel bases.
Koenig and Mikkonen begin by understanding how the space needs to perform. The conversation includes dimensions and aesthetics, but also behavior. How many people use the room? Where do clients enter? Which equipment must be within reach? What needs to be
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hidden? Does the team collaborate around one surface or work independently? Will the furniture need to adapt as the company grows? Their architecture background helps them place the piece within a larger system. Using professional design software, the team can develop floor plans, threedimensional models, and renderings so a client can see how proportions, circulation, and finishes will work before fabrication begins. That preview reduces one of the biggest anxieties in custom work: the fear of committing to something that exists only as an idea. Instead of asking a client to imagine the finished piece from a wood sample and a conversation, the design process creates checkpoints. Dimensions can change. A modesty panel can be simplified. Storage can move to the side where it will actually be used. A finish can be judged against the room, not in isolation. The company describes its public process in three stages: connect and gather inspiration, develop a tailored quote and design drawings, then build and deliver the finished work. In practice, the commercial process is more iterative. Consultation leads to site and
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workflow analysis; drawings and finishes are reviewed; the shop translates the approved design into wood and steel; installation brings the piece into the space; and follow-up closes the loop. That collaboration can be as hands-on as the client wants. The designers can guide the full process, or work from a strong concept already established by an architect, interior designer or business owner.
The first objection is usually cost. The second is time. Koenig understands both. For years, the word custom has been shorthand for an unlimited budget and an indefinite timeline. Grain Designs has worked to make the numbers more concrete. Its website publishes starting prices across several commercial categories and offers free design consultations, giving prospective clients an earlier view of the likely investment. The company also argues that custom hardwood furniture can compete with commercial office-furniture pricing. That comparison depends on the materials,
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True North Reception Desk
quantity, features, installation, and alternatives being considered; a bespoke desk should not be compared casually with the least expensive particleboard option online. The more useful comparison is between products expected to serve the same purpose for a similar length of time. That is where fit and durability enter the calculation. A lower-priced desk that does not use the available floor plan, cannot manage the required technology, or needs replacement after a few years may be inexpensive only at checkout. A well-designed piece can create value
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Western Excavation Desk
by using space efficiently, supporting the work and remaining serviceable as trends change. Grain Designs builds primarily with solid hardwoods, reclaimed wood, steel, and other premium materials. White oak is a consistent part of its inventory, while walnut, ash, maple and reclaimed species allow a project to take on different character. Hot-rolled steel is a common choice for bases and details because of its durability, availability, and visual warmth, although the team also works with stainless steel, aluminum, and other metals when the design calls for them.
The Grain Designs story is inseparable from place. Mikkonen grew up on a farm near Frederick, SD; Koenig is from Fargo. Their company makes furniture near Davenport, North Dakota, in a shop that shares a property with the venues they helped create. The Pines Black and Pines White became fullscale demonstrations of their work: custom tables, sliding doors, bars, counters, and architectural wood elements functioning together as an environment. That scale expanded what clients could ask of the company. Grain Designs is no longer limited to a table or desk. Its work includes business signs, wall features, paneling, shelves, doors, mantels, timber wraps and other architectural details that can connect an office from the entrance to the boardroom. For a brand, consistency at that level is powerful. The logo on the wall, the material at reception, and the conference table where major decisions are made can speak the same visual language. A business does not need to turn every surface into a billboard. The strongest environments often use identity more quietly—with a familiar wood tone, a steel detail drawn from the company’s industry, a subtle mark in a modesty panel or a form inspired by the work itself.
Grain Designs is the current FACE of Commercial Furniture in the FargoMoorhead-West Fargo area!
graindesigns.com /graindesigns @graindesigns
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By Brady Drake |
provided by Alyssa Lakosky
Care
hen Jim Buus asked Alyssa Lakosky how she handled adversity, she had four years of experience to draw on. She was interviewing to join his commercial real estate team. Her background was in emergency nursing. “Well Jim, I worked in the emergency room for four years,” she recalled telling him. The answer made him laugh. It also revealed something about the experience she would bring to the job. Lakosky had spent the beginning of her professional life helping people through frightening, unfamiliar situations. She knew how to communicate when emotions were high, explain what was happening, and remain composed when the people around her needed reassurance. Two years into her career with JBC Commercial Real Estate, those skills remain central to her work. Today, she helps business owners navigate decisions about where to operate, how much space they need, and whether a property fits their plans. The circumstances have changed considerably. Her attention to the person making the decision has carried over.
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to the business that must operate inside it.
Lakosky graduated in May 2020, entering nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her husband moved to North Carolina, where they lived for two years before returning to Fargo. She then worked at Sanford. Across a little more than four years in nursing, her work was in emergency departments. She remembers the strain of hospitals that had run out of room. Patients who needed inpatient care remained in the ER because beds elsewhere were occupied. Emergency rooms filled. Waiting rooms filled. New patients kept arriving.
Commercial real estate offered a direction that connected with an interest she already had. Lakosky said both of her parents had business backgrounds. Her father had owned commercial properties, and she and her husband had helped him manage some of them. That experience gave her an introduction to property ownership and management before she considered becoming an agent. She had long been interested in business, but another four-year degree did not appeal to her. She also knew residential real estate was a crowded field and had not seen it as the right fit.
The pace left little room to recover during a shift. “You just hit the floor running,” she said. “There’s like no downtime.” Twelve-hour shifts, changing day and night schedules, and incentives to pick up additional work compounded the exhaustion. She could see the effects after she went home, too. She was tired, stressed, and less happy outside of work. She also found meaning in caring for people during some of their worst moments. That made the decision to leave more complicated than simply disliking a job. She respected the nurses who had stayed in emergency medicine for a decade or longer and continued to love the work. For her, however, the experience was becoming difficult to sustain.
Discovering that she could focus exclusively on commercial property changed her thinking. A Fargo native and North Dakota State University graduate, Lakosky joined JBC in 2024. Her work now concentrates on retail and office properties, with industrial work becoming part of the mix. She refers residential inquiries to other professionals. The questions behind a commercial transaction appealed to her: Does the space work for this business? Can the owner afford the monthly obligation? Would purchasing a building be the best use of available capital? Each question connects a property
Lakosky began building relationships in the business community while she was still a nurse and exploring what might come next. She attended Chamber events, became involved in the Young Professionals Network, and met people outside health care. Those connections helped turn an interest into an opportunity. In a 2025 Chamber article, she explained that her involvement led her to meet JBC agent Brittaney VanderHagen, who later introduced her to the opportunity to enter commercial real estate. JBC was founded in August 2019 by Jim Buus and Lori Ibach, both longtime commercial real estate professionals. Buus previously spent 23 years with GOLDMARK Commercial, ultimately serving as president and managing broker. Ibach worked there for more than 27 years before helping establish JBC, bringing experience in brokerage, property management, office management, and development projects. Lakosky identifies both as mentors. Learning from Ibach has been particularly meaningful as she establishes herself in an industry she describes as male dominated. Having experienced women on her own team gives her colleagues she can learn from as she develops her practice. She has continued investing in that development through Chamber committees and the Leadership FMWF program. The relationships have broadened her network and given her people to learn alongside.
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF CARE
For her, referrals have become the most effective source of leads. Serving an existing client well can introduce her to other business owners through a recommendation she could not create by distributing another card.
In the emergency room, explaining a situation was part of caring for someone. Patients and family members needed information from a person who could stay calm enough to deliver it. Lakosky sees that experience reflected in the way she works with real estate clients. A business owner may be unfamiliar with a lease structure, worried about a deadline, or trying to understand the implications of a major commitment. She wants to help that person work through the decision with a clearer understanding of what comes next. Her nursing career also changed how she experiences pressure. Commercial real estate has deadlines, uncertainty, and financial stakes. She takes those seriously while drawing perspective from her earlier work.
She says she is happier overall and has a better work-life balance. Building relationships and helping businesses move forward are parts of the job she enjoys. That satisfaction also shapes her definition of a successful client relationship. Getting someone into a space is only useful if the commitment makes sense for the business.
Entering commercial real estate as a younger professional comes with a practical challenge: Many people in an agent’s immediate network may have no need for commercial property. Some work for employers and will never make a real estate decision for a company. Others are starting businesses from home and may be years away from needing a storefront or office. Lakosky’s early community involvement gave her relationships to build on as she entered the field. She was already getting to know people before she had a service to sell them. Her advice is to find settings where there is a reason to keep showing up, contribute, and learn. Attending every available event can become exhausting. Committees and leadership programs can offer more sustained opportunities to understand other people’s work and become useful to them. “Don’t just show up in a room and like throw your business cards around and leave,” she said.
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One of Lakosky’s first questions for a prospective client is how much the business can afford each month. If the owner cannot answer, she wants that work done before a property search gains momentum. She encourages clients to review their numbers and consult their tax or business advisors. She can help explain property costs, but the business owner needs a sound understanding of the company’s finances. “Let’s kind of do that step first,” she said. The budget also needs to account for more than the advertised base rent. Lakosky raises utilities and common area maintenance charges in those early conversations, including how those charges may change. A space that consumes the entire available budget immediately can leave little room for an increase later. Her priority is helping clients make commitments they can sustain. Sometimes that means a conversation ends with an owner realizing the business needs more preparation before leasing space.
Alyssa and the team at JBC commercial
D y Lakosky encourages owners to consider the use of their capital when comparing leasing and buying. Purchasing a building commits money that might otherwise support the business. Whether that makes sense depends on the company’s position and plans. For some owners, leasing for a few years may be a better fit before considering a purchase. The decision should begin with the business itself: What stage is it in? What resources does it need? How much flexibility would be useful? Those questions help frame the property search around what the owner is trying to accomplish.
A space needs to fit the business over the period of the commitment, not just when the keys change hands. Lakosky asks owners how much they expect to grow and whether their current operations are expanding or contracting. A five-year lease can become a problem if the company needs substantially more space after 18 months. The same commitment can be difficult if the business downsizes and continues paying for room it no longer uses. Understanding those possibilities helps her narrow the search. A property with potential expansion space nearby presents different possibilities than a standalone building with no room to grow. Parking requirements and whether a downtown location works for the business also belong in the initial discussion.
The more clearly an owner can explain how the business operates and where it is headed, the more useful that first conversation becomes. For Lakosky, asking those questions is part of the work she finds rewarding: helping small businesses get started, watching them develop, and building relationships that continue as their needs change. Her own career changed because she took time to understand what was no longer working and explore what could come next. Now, she helps business owners give their next move that same attention.
jbccommercial.com 701-936-8171 alyssalakosky@jbccommercial.com
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W i t h Co n n e c t I n t e r i o rs
Office Tour!
Connect Interiors recently relocated to a new Fargo showroom and workplace after recognizing an opportunity to better align their space with the way they work today.
By Connect Interiors |
provided by Connect Interiors
Connect Interiors, we believe the workplace should be a powerful reflection of how people connect, collaborate, and perform at their best. When our previous showroom no longer aligned with our vision or the evolving needs of our team and clients, we saw an opportunity to create something more purposeful. The result is a new Fargo showroom that not only showcases the latest workplace trends and solutions but also serves as a living example of how thoughtful design can enhance culture, support flexibility, and create meaningful experiences. We approached our own move the same way we approach projects for our clients: through research, collaboration, and intentional planning. Our in-house team led the design of the new showroom, using the space as an opportunity to showcase the workplace strategies, products, and solutions we recommend every day. The design process began with team member surveys, workshops, and collaborative discussions that gathered insights on how our team works, connects, and serves clients. Leadership input and team member feedback helped shape design principles, workplace behaviors, and space planning priorities. By using data and engagement throughout the process, we were able to create a workplace that supports hybrid work, strengthens collaboration, and aligns with our organizational goals. The result is a showroom that is approximately 30% smaller than our previous space, yet significantly more purposeful and effective. The footprint was carefully planned to support flexibility and choice, incorporating a blend of neighborhoods, collaborative zones, private work areas, and shared gathering spaces. Every element, from furniture and technology to architectural solutions, was thoughtfully integrated to create a cohesive and adaptable environment. The overall design is organized into five distinct workplace neighborhoods inspired by urban planning concepts.
Each neighborhood supports a different work mode, including socializing, focusing, collaborating, learning, and rejuvenating. Shared spaces connect these neighborhoods, creating a sense of community while allowing employees and visitors to transition easily between activities throughout the day. This approach reflects the evolving nature of work and recognizes that different tasks require different environments. Beyond the overall layout, we took a layered approach to design by focusing on the details that make each space truly effective. Throughout the showroom, visitors will find integrated technology and audiovisual solutions that support seamless hybrid meetings and collaboration, whether participants are in the room or joining remotely. Prefabricated architectural walls and innovative space division solutions demonstrate flexible ways organizations can create privacy, define spaces, and adapt to changing needs. Thoughtful finishing elements, including lighting, area rugs, accessories, and curated design details, help transform each setting from simply functional to welcoming, comfortable, and inspiring. At its core, our new space demonstrates the power of community-based workplace design. Rather than creating a one-sizefits-all environment, we designed a variety of settings that support individual work, team collaboration, learning opportunities, informal connection, and employee well-being. The showroom reflects the same strategies and solutions we help organizations implement every day, serving as a living example of how thoughtful workplace design can enhance culture, strengthen engagement, and support business goals. Designed entirely by our Connect Interiors team, the space allows visitors to experience firsthand how furniture, architectural solutions, technology, and design work together to create environments where people do their best work. Our new home not only showcases what we do, but also embodies who we are and how we believe great workplaces should function.
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First Impressions Matter
The Welcome Lounge serves as the first impression of Connect Interiors, creating a warm and inviting destination where guests are welcomed and showroom tours begin. Positioned near the entrance, the space was designed to support connection and conversation through a blend of comfortable seating, layered lighting, natural daylight, and thoughtfully selected finishes. Architectural dividers, area rugs, integrated technology, and access to power provide flexibility for everything from casual meetings to individual work, demonstrating how hospitality-inspired design can create a more engaging workplace experience.
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Office Tour!
Designed for Connection Connect Café serves as the social hub of the showroom, bringing people together for conversation, collaboration, and community. Designed to support both planned and spontaneous interactions, the space features a variety of seating styles that showcase different ways people gather and work while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic. Integrated shelving, thoughtfully layered finishes, and built-in technology enhance both the functionality and experience of the space. Adjacent to the main conference room, bi-parting doors allow the two areas to seamlessly expand into one larger environment, creating the flexibility to accommodate everything from casual meetings and team gatherings to training sessions and special events.
Collaboration Without Boundaries Our first conference room is designed to support collaboration, training, and client engagement in a technology-rich environment. Integrated audio and presentation capabilities ensure a seamless experience for both in-person and remote participants, while a thoughtful blend of furnishings and finishes creates a professional yet welcoming atmosphere. Located adjacent to Connect Café, bi-parting doors allow the space to expand for larger meetings, presentations, and events, demonstrating how flexible design can support a wide range of workplace needs.
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Every Seat at the Table Designed for focused collaboration, the smaller conference room supports team meetings, client conversations, and hybrid work for groups of three to five people. Integrated technology, dual displays, and an ergonomic table shape provide clear sightlines and equitable participation for both in-person and remote attendees. Features such as a built-in markerboard, room scheduler, adjustable lighting, privacy glass, and refined finishes create a comfortable and highly functional environment for discussion, decision-making, and connection. As a reservable space, it demonstrates how thoughtful design and technology can enhance collaboration at a smaller scale.
Focus on Demand The Private Office provides a flexible, reservable space for focused work, virtual meetings, and confidential conversations. Designed to support today’s hybrid workplace, the room features integrated technology, a height-adjustable workstation, built-in storage, and glass walls that create an open, modern feel while maintaining privacy when needed. Thoughtful planning and efficient use of space demonstrate how organizations can balance focus, flexibility, and accessibility within a compact footprint.
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Office Tour!
CONTINUED
Where Focus Meets Collaboration The Sales Team Workspace was designed to support the rhythm of a dynamic, client-focused team. Height-adjustable workstations, integrated power, task lighting, and personal storage create a comfortable and productive environment, while lower panels and shared resources encourage visibility, connection, and collaboration. Located near hospitality and meeting spaces, the workspace allows team members to move seamlessly between client conversations, team discussions, and focused work, demonstrating how thoughtful workplace design can support both individual performance and team engagement.
The Heart of the Workplace The Work Café serves as a central gathering place where employees can connect, recharge, and collaborate throughout the day. Designed to feel open and welcoming, the space utilizes glass elements and natural light to create a strong connection to the surrounding showroom while maintaining a comfortable sense of separation. A variety of seating options, access to power, and adjustable privacy screens support everything from casual conversations and team meetings to focused individual work. Thoughtful details, including integrated storage, modular casework, and elevated finishes, create a hospitality-inspired environment that blends comfort, productivity, and community.
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Office Tour!
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Where Creativity Comes to Life The Design Studio was intentionally located within a quieter area of the showroom to support the focused, detail-oriented work of the design team. Height-adjustable workstations, integrated lighting, ergonomic features, and acoustic screens create an environment that balances concentration and comfort, while shared resources and collaborative work areas encourage creativity and teamwork. Thoughtfully planned to support both individual productivity and group collaboration, the space demonstrates how workplace design can foster connection without compromising focus.
A Place to Recharge The Alcove was designed as a quiet retreat within the showroom, offering a comfortable space for focused work, informal conversation, and moments of recharge. Nestled within an architectural niche, the space provides a natural sense of privacy while remaining connected to the surrounding environment. Lounge furnishings, rich finishes, soft textures, and layered accessories create a warm, residential feel that encourages people to slow down, settle in, and connect. The result is a calming destination that demonstrates how thoughtful design can support well-being, balance, and choice in the workplace.
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Office Tour!
Where Ideas Take Shape
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The Design Library serves as a hands-on destination where inspiration, materials, and ideas come together. Curated collections of finishes, textiles, product samples, and resources are thoughtfully organized to support the design process and help bring concepts to life. Open displays and accessible storage encourage exploration, allowing designers and clients to compare materials, evaluate options, and make informed decisions. More than a resource center, the library highlights the collaborative nature of design and the important role that texture, color, and materiality play in creating meaningful spaces.
Privacy Without Walls
Our pods showcase how modular architectural solutions can create private, highperforming spaces within an open workplace. Designed to support focused work, collaboration, and moments of recharge, these freestanding environments offer varying levels of privacy while maintaining a strong connection to the surrounding space. Integrated technology, enhanced acoustics, and access to natural light create comfortable settings for both individual and group use, while their flexible design allows organizations to adapt as workplace needs evolve. The result is a versatile solution that demonstrates how privacy, flexibility, and functionality can coexist within a modern work environment.
connectinteriors.com /ConnectInterior @connectinterior
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By Brady Drake |
Spotlight Media You may only build one office in your lifetime. You may only remodel once in your lifetime. Nobody expects you to be an expert in either capacity. However, a base level of understanding can go a long way in keeping you headache-free during your next office project.
HANS GRAFSTROM GRAFSTROM CONSTRUCTION
ABOUT HANS GRAFSTROM Grafstrom, owner and CEO of Fargo-based Grafstrom Construction, started the company in 2013 as a one-person handyman operation. Today, its commercial capabilities include framing, drywall, cabinetry, architectural woodwork, doors and hardware, demolition and general contracting.
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A: A construction project does not have to be intimidating. There are a lot of moving pieces, which is why it helps to have people around the table who deal with those moving pieces every day. From the owner’s side, the most helpful things are a clear idea of what the building needs to accomplish, a realistic budget and schedule, and a willingness to make decisions as the project develops. A successful project is not one where nothing unexpected happens. It is one where the team communicates, solves problems, and keeps moving. And building should be fun. Most owners are building because something positive is happening: they are growing, adding capabilities, or investing in the future of their business. It is worth stepping back occasionally and appreciating that.
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provided by Hans Grafstrom
Sam at Von Maur
A: You do not need to have the building figured out before calling a contractor. Know your business needs. What you are trying to accomplish, roughly how much space you need, your timing, and what level of investment makes sense. The owner does not need to be the construction expert, but they do need to be the expert on their operation because there are a lot of decisions only the end user can answer. I also like owners to establish a couple of clear guardrails. What budget do we need to work toward, and what delivery date actually matters? Give the team clear targets, then stay open to different ways of getting there.
Chris at Harry’s Steakhouse
A: A contractor’s opinion can be useful during many parts of preconstruction. If you have someone you trust to walk a prospective space and gut-check feasibility, review building systems or materials, or identify cost and constructability concerns, that can be valuable. The cheapest time to change something is while it is still a line on paper. At the same time, be cautious about using the contractor as your designer. The relationship is usually to tell them what you want to accomplish, and they will help figure out how to build it practically and cost-effectively. On anything beyond a simple finishes update, good drawings can be money well spent. Complete information helps expose constraints early and gives trades the information they need to provide complete bids. Architects can also provide different levels of service during construction, including submittal review, contract administration, and payment review, which may be especially valuable for an owner with limited construction experience or limited time.
A: The purchase price is only one part of the cost of a site. Zoning, utilities, access, soils, grading, stormwater, special assessments, easements, parking requirements, and off-site improvements can all materially change the economics. A good piece of land is not necessarily the cheapest one; it is the property
that lets you accomplish what you need at a reasonable total cost. There is usually a solution to a site constraint—the question is whether that solution still makes economic sense. The stuff you want is relatively easy to spot and budget for. It’s the stuff you need that tends to surprise you.
A: I like to separate construction cost from total project cost. Owners may also have land, design and engineering, permits, financing, furniture, equipment, technology, signage, moving costs, and other expenses outside the construction contract. I also encourage owners to carry some financial cushion of their own, separate from any construction contingency. “While we’re at it, we might as well...” has eaten up its fair share of budgets. Once you can physically walk through a space, you may see something differently than you did on the drawings. If a change is going to make the building work better for the next 20 years, it is nice
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THE CONTRACTOR’S PERSPECTIVE to have planned enough flexibility to make it rather than wishing you had after move-in.
you’re expecting to receive and be able to confirm that expectation is reflected in the bids. And don’t be afraid to ask the “stupid question.” Sometimes it uncovers an equally stupid oversight. Projects have a lot of moving pieces, and occasionally something obvious gets missed. The goal is to understand what you’re buying and make an informed comparison.
Austin, Kodi, Cory, Gamaliel, Casey, and Azael at 4 Bears Casino in New Town, ND
A: Price absolutely matters, but make sure the numbers represent the same thing. The devil is often in the details. Review scope, exclusions, allowances, alternates, schedule, and assumptions, and ask questions where the bids differ. A lower bid is not automatically incomplete, and a higher bid is not automatically better. Your best defense is making sure you, or someone representing you, has a true understanding of the project scope and can identify where the bids may not align. You don’t need to be a construction expert, but someone on your side should understand what
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None of those things are inherently bad. Allowances are useful when a selection is not final, exclusions clarify the boundary of the scope, and change orders document legitimate changes in scope, conditions, or owner direction. The important thing is transparency. If something changes, the owner should understand what changed, why, what it costs, and whether it affects the schedule. The goal is not to pretend a project will never change; it is to avoid surprises.
A: The more decisions that can reasonably be made before construction, the better, but I do not think owners should expect perfection. The cost of changing your mind generally increases as the work progresses. Moving a wall on a drawing is easy; moving it after framing, electrical, plumbing, and finishes are underway is a different matter. There will also be decisions that only the end user can make,
so be ready to provide direction. If you know you will be a bottleneck, empower someone internally or externally to make routine decisions for the project.
A: The construction schedule is only one piece of the overall project schedule. Site selection, feasibility, financing, design, approvals, permitting, and procurement can all happen before the first crew arrives. I prefer to start with the date the owner needs to be operating and work backward from there. One thing that can be easy to underestimate is how long it takes to get from “we’re doing this” to
Azael, Tim, and Austin at Moorhead City Hall
Tim, Eric, and Seth at NDSU Bolley Ag Lab
having something installed. A decision may still need to be priced, detailed in shop drawings, reviewed and approved, fabricated, delivered, and finally installed. Each of those steps needs its time, and trying to compress them at the end can be difficult or expensive. Starting early gives the team more options and more room to work through that process.
your court, getting it moving again quickly helps protect the schedule. There are also plenty of decisions that can only be made by the end user, so be prepared to provide that direction. If you know decision-making could become a bottleneck, designate someone internally or externally who understands the project and has enough authority to keep things moving.
A: Good communication is timely, candid, and focused on solving the issue in front of you. Construction is a ball-incourt game with submittals, shop drawings, selections, and questions constantly moving between the owner, contractor, architect, engineers, and trades. When the ball comes into
Contractors owe the owner that same sense of urgency. Owners should put some guardrails on the process and hold the team to them. Be clear about the budget we need to hit and the delivery date that matters. Projects can naturally expand into the time available; a trade may squeeze in another project, a crew may get pared down, or a little too much time can develop between trades. Sometimes a little push is appropriate. There is a difference between holding your contractor accountable to the schedule and trying to run the schedule yourself.
grafstrom.co
@grafstromconstruction
/GrafstromConstruction
/grafstrom-construction
By Brady Drake |
provided by Brooke Erstad For Brooke Erstad, renovating Apex Physical Therapy & Wellness’s approximately 10,000-square-foot West Fargo clinic meant improving the space without stopping patient care.
KAMERON IHRY HODEM Co-Owner, Apex Physical Therapy & Wellness
BROOKE ERSTAD CO-OWNER,APEX PHYSICAL THERAPY & WELLNESS
HANS GRAFSTROM ON THE PROJECT “Brooke and the Apex team did a great job with the front-end work. They had already made many of their selections based on recent projects and had put together a clear hierarchy of what mattered most for this location. From there, we worked within their budget to get the ‘need to haves’ and as many ‘nice to haves’ as possible. On some of the extras, the juice just wasn’t worth the squeeze, and we worked through those decisions together. That helped their budget go further while leaving room to add scope when we saw ways to make the space work better. Casey McGarry, our project manager, worked closely with their team throughout construction and had this to say: “Brooke, Kam, and their team were wonderful partners from start to finish. They were responsive and decisive when decisions needed to be made, and they welcomed new ideas and handled changes with flexibility. Their communication kept things moving, and it was always a joy to walk on-site and work with them. We had plenty of challenges and plenty of laughs along the way. We thoroughly enjoyed working with their team on this one!”
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ABOUT BROOKE ERSTAD A co-owner, CEO, and director of fitness, Erstad is a doctor of physical therapy and boardcertified women’s health clinical specialist. Apex is a therapist-owned outpatient practice with six locations across West Fargo, Fargo, Jamestown, LaMoure, and Edgeley, offering physical therapy, massage, and fitness services.
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A: We have around 10,000 square feet here in West Fargo, and we refreshed it with Grafstrom, changing from brown tones to gray and white—a little more current color scheme. Carpet was changed out. Wall colors. None of our existing furniture really worked. Artwork had to be redone. It ended up being a little more involved than maybe I was fully prepared for. Another big thing with our refresh was that we needed to drop some of our counter heights down. We needed an ADA surface, so that involved tearing down our old front desk and rebuilding.
A: We moved in here in 2015, and it was in good shape as is. We made some small modifications with a different company. I hadn’t met the Grafstrom crew at that time. Since then, we’ve had to update a bathroom here or there with them. It’s always been a good experience, so it was a pretty easy call to make.
A: For us, it was imperative to keep seeing patients. You’ve got to have the revenue coming in, and yet I’m changing the spaces that they are in all the time.
We do a lot of private treatment rooms. With Hans and Casey, the project manager on our case, we came up with a plan with our team and their team to shift everybody on the west side over to the east. Where are they going to be doing patient care for the next week or two? We did one wing’s painting, and they were great about coordinating flooring to go in right at the same time, so we displaced therapists for a week or two. You can keep morale high and deal with everybody’s stuff being moved. Then we’d move back into that space and start the next. We had a slow, graded progression, trying to keep business operations at the forefront of our decision-making. For the front desk, we had to set up tables in the lobby for our check-in and scheduling spot. Internet access and all of those things had to shift over. It was a very phased project, and we really had to work hand in hand with Hans’s team to make it successful.
A: This is our biggest location. We have a big pelvic crew, so we do pelvic physical therapy—probably about 50% from this location. Of our 15 treatment rooms, probably seven of them are pelvic rooms. We also do a lot of outpatient orthopedic therapy. A lot of those therapists did their entire treatments out of the gym. Our brand, so to speak, is that we’re really hands-on, and you sometimes need a room for some of those techniques.
THE CONTRACTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Photos of the office renovation during and after.
Our therapists were great about moving out to the gym so that the pelvic patients and people disrobing still got a treatment room.
system’s fried—and we’re trying to teach people to relax.
I wasn’t able to make good on all of the requests, of course, but it was helpful that they knew their ideas were considered in making our space work better.
We also have massage here, so it was a little tricky to keep the massage therapists as far away from the noise as possible. A: You’re going to have to be patient. We had a couple of delays with shipping. I kind of knew some of that was going to happen. A: The noise factor. Although we planned out the shift, it’s pretty hard to take phone calls when they’re jackhammering tile in a different part of the building.
Initially, we thought it was going to be three months, and it did get longer than that. It takes a ton of communication—almost daily—with your project manager.
I didn’t really know if doing some work in the off hours was a possibility, and it was. That really helped us out—weekends and nights.
They were really easy to work with and fun, and they did some of it at night. But I think you’ve got to be prepared.
I did agree to pay a little extra to have that so the business operations weren’t disrupted. But we did kind of learn that the hard way. The jackhammering was on everybody’s last nerve, and I heard about it. You can deal with it for an hour, but when it goes on all day, your nervous
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the sacrifices.
A: Get your staff as ready as possible. We did a lot of asking what would make their lives easier, and that really helped everyone be willing to make
They were a big part of shifting and moving stuff. Include your staff, be really informative and let the public know.
A: I thought coordinating with a designer was helpful because it became so obvious that our old décor and lobby furniture and all those things would need to be changed. We’ve built out a couple of locations recently, so I was pretty well prepared. I knew the colors and finishes that I wanted, and that was helpful.
apexptwellness /apexptwellness @apexptwellness
By Brady Drake
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THE NEXT MAP OF FARGO-MOORHEAD the western edge of the Fargo-Moorhead metro, the horizon is flat, the parcels are large, Interstate 94 is close, the $3.2 billion flooddiversion system is nearing the point when it can protect the metro, and on a map, growth appears free to move in almost any direction.
TWO CLOCKS ARE RUNNING The metro is growing on two clocks.
But the next map of Fargo-Moorhead will not be drawn on empty land alone. It will be drawn by the diameter of a sewer main, the capacity of a lift station, the timing of a road connection, the distance between a job and a worker, and whether a project can proceed by right or must survive months of discretionary approvals. It will also be drawn by a question that has become unavoidable as the metro spreads—how much growth should move outward, and how much should be absorbed by places the community has already paid to serve? That question is now embedded in Fargo's first comprehensive Land Development Code rewrite since 1998. The city's adopted Growth Plan projects roughly 15,000 additional households and about 30,000 additional residents by 2045. Its policy target is equally consequential with at least one-third of future growth should occur downtown, in core neighborhoods, and in other alreadydeveloped areas, while no more than two-thirds should go to greenfield development. The result is not one growth frontier. It is seven distinct development zones, each with a different business case and a different clock. Some are ready for reinvestment now. Some are being unlocked by infrastructure already under construction. Others are long-horizon opportunities whose value depends on public investments and regulatory milestones that have not yet arrived.
MARKET CLOCK The first is the market clock, which includes housing demand, business expansion, medical-office growth, retail gaps, hotel demand, construction costs and the availability of workers. A 2025 business-retention survey by the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation found that 60% of participating primary-sector companies were considering an expansion within one or two years. Manufacturing, software and hardware, value-added agriculture, logistics and agricultural technology were among the strongest categories. Employers also identified workforce availability, suitable space, construction costs and infrastructure as recurring constraints.
INFRASTRUCTURE CLOCK The second is the infrastructure clock. A parcel may be zoned for business and still be years away from supporting it. A road may exist but be at peak-hour capacity. A sewer extension may require an equalization basin, a lift station, and a force main before the first building can connect. Flood protection may reduce long-term risk without immediately changing a federal flood map.
This is the next map of Fargo-Moorhead.
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THE NEXT MAP OF FARGO-MOORHEAD
DOWNTOWN FARGO AND THE CORE This area is best positioned for mixed-use housing, hospitality, small and midsize offices, restaurants and retail, medical and professional services, and educationadjacent uses. Downtown Fargo has the metro’s strongest case for growth without geographic expansion. Streets, utilities, transit, public parking, cultural assets, and a concentration of employers are already in place. The development challenge is not extending the city. It is assembling sites, adapting older buildings, and making denser projects financially workable. The economics are different from the edge. Downtown land is rarely cheap, demolition and environmental conditions can complicate a project, and structured parking can dominate a pro forma. Yet those costs are offset by access to existing infrastructure, a walkable customer base, nearby workers, and tools such as the Renaissance Zone.
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The city’s own investment is signaling the direction. The NP Avenue Garage opened in November 2025 with 480 cityowned parking spaces. The surrounding mixed-use project is scheduled to add 168 apartments, a new home for Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre, and commercial space. I The opportunity extends beyond the downtown core into older commercial corridors and neighborhoods where underused parcels can support missing-middle housing, neighborhood retail, clinics and smaller offices. Here, the decisive issue is regulatory. If the new code makes desired infill predictable by right—while setting clear standards for form, transitions and public space—the city can reduce approval risk without lowering expectations. Downtown and the core will not capture every fast-growing company. Large-format industrial users and distribution facilities need land and truck access that the center cannot provide. But the district is the region’s clearest answer to employers competing for talent, with a place where work, housing, food, entertainment and civic life can exist within a short trip.
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SOUTH FARGO AND 52ND AVENUE
NORTH FARGO AND THE AIRPORT-INDUSTRIAL AREA
This area is best positioned for medical offices, neighborhood and regional retail, hospitality, professional services, multifamily housing, and mixed-use nodes.
This area is best positioned for aviation services, logistics, light manufacturing, research and technology companies, suppliers, training facilities, and select hospitality.
For more than a decade, south and southwest Fargo have carried an extraordinary share of the city’s expansion. From 2010 to 2020, the area accounted for 96% of Fargo’s new single-family homes, 76% of its multifamily units, 80% of net new retail space and 96% of net new office space, according to the Fargo Growth Plan.
North Fargo has a combination no other part of the metro can replicate with Hector International Airport, Interstate 29, rail access, industrial land, and North Dakota State University’s research and workforce pipeline.
The 52nd Avenue corridor is where that residential momentum is turning into a broader business district. Its conversion from a rural two-lane road into a four-lane divided arterial included storm sewer, water main, shareduse paths, lighting, and new Drain 27 bridges. The city estimated traffic at roughly 12,000 vehicles a day, rising toward 20,000. Those investments create the skeleton for more than strip retail. The stronger long-term play is a series of mixed-use nodes at major intersections: medical and dental offices, hotels, restaurants, childcare, daily-needs retail, multifamily housing and professional services that can serve both nearby residents and commuters from Horace and the southwest metro. The question is whether the corridor develops as a sequence of connected places or as isolated pads. The city’s new code and growth plan place greater emphasis on block structure, internal street connections, housing variety, and non-auto travel. That matters because the public cost of growth rises when each project requires a new signal, a new access point, or a longer utility extension. South Fargo remains highly attractive, but its advantage is no longer simply inexpensive land. The most valuable sites will be those where roads and utilities are already sized, access can be shared, and a developer can deliver density without first financing a miniature public-works program.
The airport’s new terminal expansion opened in February 2026, following the opening of its parking ramp in August 2025. Remodeling of the existing terminal is expected to continue through 2027. That investment strengthens the airport as a regional gateway, but its development influence extends beyond passenger travel. Aviation-related services, time-sensitive logistics, specialized manufacturing, and companies that value rapid access to customers and technical talent can all make a location case here. The strongest opportunity is not a generic warehouse district. It is a cluster in which the airport, NDSU, existing manufacturers, and the region’s agricultural-technology base reinforce one another. Research operations, testing, component suppliers, unmanned-systems businesses, and skilled-trades training can use proximity as an advantage. The constraints are equally specific. Airport safety and noise zones restrict some uses. Rail lines and established industrial parcels can complicate connections. Large sites may require assembly, environmental review, or infrastructure upgrades. Workforce access also matters. A job district that is convenient for trucks but difficult for employees to reach will be less competitive than it appears on a freight map. North Fargo’s future depends on treating access as a system—airport, highway, transit, street connections and workforce pipelines—not as a single interchange.
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THE NEXT MAP OF FARGO-MOORHEAD
WEST FARGO AND THE I-94 CORRIDOR West Fargo’s next major employment district may not be where a casual look at the map suggests. The open land southwest of I-94 appears to be the obvious frontier. West Fargo’s 2026 Growth Area Plan shows why it is not yet the easiest one. Existing roads are already under pressure at peak periods. Major sewer facilities, lift stations, and equalization storage are needed. Cass County Electric has identified substantial distribution upgrades. School capacity and the timing of a new crossing also shape the pace of development. The more immediate opportunity is north of the interstate, around the 12th Avenue corridor and the city’s former lagoon properties. West Fargo’s plan identifies roughly 600 acres
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for a mixed business and industrial campus that could accommodate data centers, distribution, light manufacturing, a corporate campus, and supporting commercial uses at key intersections. West Fargo is advancing a modified force main with Mapleton that can serve at least 2,500 acres west and southwest of the city, along with a high-capacity lift-station project south of I-94. Those projects improve the long-term outlook, but they do not make every western parcel equally ready on the same day. For businesses, the I-94 corridor offers freight access, visibility, and scale. For developers, the winning sites will be those with documented utility capacity and a credible schedule—not simply a future land-use designation. The district’s ultimate strength could be a mix of employment and services rather than a single-use industrial park, but that outcome will depend on reserving land for jobs before residential pressure consumes the most accessible sites.
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HORACE AND THE SOUTHWEST METRO
DOWNTOWN AND EAST MOORHEAD
This area is best positioned for neighborhood retail, childcare, clinics, professional services, restaurants, construction trades, small-scale light industrial, and community-oriented mixed use.
This area is best positioned for downtown mixed use, housing, hospitality, arts, and civic uses; in east and southeast Moorhead, rail-served industry, manufacturing, logistics, and value-added agriculture.
Horace’s growth story begins with rooftops. The city’s population has increased more than fivefold since 1990, and new subdivisions have pushed the urban edge toward West Fargo and south Fargo. The next business opportunity is to turn that population growth into a more complete community.
Moorhead’s development map has two engines.
The 64th Avenue corridor is central to that shift. As subdivisions and a school site emerged along what had been a rural road, the corridor gained a larger water trunk, urban street improvements, sewer and stormwater infrastructure, shared-use paths, and a connection toward County Road 17. Those investments can support the daily services that rapidly growing neighborhoods need. Horace is therefore positioned first for businesses that follow households with grocery and convenience retail, restaurants, childcare, dental and medical clinics, fitness, financial services, and professional offices. Its construction base and highway connections also create room for trades, servicecommercial uses and smaller industrial operations. The downtown neighborhood plan adds a second opportunity. A stronger central business district could give Horace something subdivisions alone cannot create—a recognizable civic and commercial center. That will require deliberate land assembly, street design, and a mix of housing and storefront uses scaled to the city’s market. Horace should not be read as the metro’s next large officetower district. Its near-term advantage is local demand and room to build. Its challenge is that apparently lower land prices can be narrowed by utility extensions, special assessments, and road obligations. The relevant number is not the asking price per acre. It is the fully served cost per buildable foot.
The first is downtown, where major public projects and private housing are remaking the center at the same time. Fairmont Flats has added 105 units. The five-story 650 Center project is planned to combine businesses with 153 housing units. The Loop—Moorhead’s new library and community center—adds free coworking, entrepreneurship services and a civic anchor. The $171.6 million 11th Street railroad underpass project, expected to reach completion in fall 2026, is designed to improve safety and reconnect the street network across the rail corridor. Moorhead’s Renaissance Zone, tax-increment financing district, and the state’s extension of the downtown TIF construction window all improve the financial case for reinvestment. The opportunity is a denser center with more residents, restaurants, small offices, hospitality and cultural uses. The constraint is that every large downtown project must solve parking, construction cost, and site-assembly questions while the district remains in transition. The second engine is east and southeast Moorhead, especially the MCCARA industrial area. The city markets a 197-acre shovel-ready site with direct access to the I-94/34th Street interchange, heavy-duty concrete streets, large sanitary and storm utilities, retention capacity, and rail service through Otter Tail Valley Railroad and BNSF connections. A $2 million state infrastructure grant is supporting the area’s expansion. That gives Moorhead one of the metro’s clearest large-site industrial propositions. Manufacturers, rail users, distribution companies and value-added agricultural businesses can evaluate a site with infrastructure and transportation already defined. Minnesota’s incentive structure can also be part of the comparison, although the winning offer will depend on the specific project, wages, and capital investment. Taken together, downtown and MCCARA give Moorhead a balanced strategy of urban reinvestment at the center and job-intensive land at the edge.
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THE NEXT MAP OF FARGO-MOORHEAD
DIVERSION-ADJACENT LAND: THE RISKREDUCTION FRONTIER This area is best positioned for long-horizon employment nodes, selected mixed-use growth where utilities and roads can be extended, and recreation-oriented development near—but outside—project operations and easements. No infrastructure project will change the metro’s long-term development psychology more than the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion. But the line between flood protection and development readiness must remain bright. The Metro Flood Diversion Authority expects the project to reach “Flood Year Protection” in March 2027. That milestone should dramatically reduce regional flood risk. It will not, by itself, redraw the official federal flood-insurance map. The authority says the FEMA Letter of Map Revision process could
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take as long as two additional years, meaning updated maps may not arrive before roughly 2029. Nor does the channel create roads, sewer, water, power, or zoning. Some adjacent land is constrained by operations, environmental requirements, flowage rights, maintenance access, or public ownership. Other parcels may be well positioned but still sit beyond the economic reach of municipal systems. The right way to read diversion-adjacent land is as a longterm risk-reduction frontier, not a blanket development zone. Places where the project aligns with planned roads, utility extensions and adopted growth areas will gain the strongest development case. Elsewhere, greenways, habitat, trails and agriculture may remain the better uses. That nuance will matter as land speculation increases. Buyers should verify parcel-specific flood status, easements, post-project mapping, service plans and annexation assumptions before assigning urban value to land near the channel.
By Sagency |
provided by Sagency
he questions we hear executives asking are good ones. “How should AI change our business model? “Which processes could an agent run?” “Where can we reduce costs?” Those are the right questions to be asking, and most of the companies we work with are starting to get real answers. The question we hear far less often is, “What might these efficiency gains cost us in the long run?” Here’s the caution: leaders can capture near-term efficiencies that improve the business today, while unintentionally disinvesting in the growth of the people who will differentiate it tomorrow. Leaders would never make this tradeoff on purpose. It happens because the efficiency gain is visible immediately and missed talent development stays hidden for years.
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For most of our careers, the quality of someone’s work has been a useful, albeit imperfect, signal of their capability. Someone who consistently produced strong analysis probably knew how to analyze. Someone who repeatedly articulated strategy in a compelling way was probably developing executive-level judgment. A person can now produce work considerably more sophisticated than their experience would have allowed a few years ago. That is a real productivity gain, and we should want it. However, the work can improve much faster than the person producing it. Let’s say two people have the same laptop setup, the same assignment, and the same hour to complete it. One asks AI what to think and then edits what AI provides. The other develops a point of view and then brings in AI to attack it, look for what they missed, and change their thinking when the evidence warrants it. Both people use AI. Both may produce acceptable work. From the outside, the two workflows look nearly identical. In the short term, these efficiencies appear harmless.
Whether we realize it or not, the silent undercurrent of the AI talent gap we’re headed toward is an outsourcing of thinking. In his TED talk, How to Stop AI from Killing Your Critical Thinking, AI & Design Researcher Advait Sarkar calls this concept “Intellectual Tourism”. We visit ideas, but we no longer inhabit them with the rigor to understand, defend, and embody our point of view. He argues that we have fewer ideas, think about the ideas we do have less critically, and remember them less well. A team at the MIT Media Lab offered an early glimpse of this in 2025. Researchers put EEG caps on 54 participants and had them write essays over several sessions. One group used ChatGPT, another a search engine, and a third used neither. The researchers found significant differences in the level of brain connectivity across the groups. More striking was what happened after the writing was finished. Minutes later, 83 percent of the ChatGPT group could not accurately quote a sentence from the essay they had just produced. Comparatively, in the other two groups, only 11 percent struggled to remember what they just wrote. This is an early, small study, and we wouldn’t build a whole talent strategy on it. However, both this study and Sarkar highlight the risks of people producing work without thinking it through.
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The people on your team today need to develop the judgment, insight, and perspective required to run your company in the future. The successful leaders of the future will exercise and hone the craft of critical discernment. Historically, much of that development happened through the work itself. You got an assignment slightly beyond your ability. You wrestled with it. You made decisions. Somebody more experienced looked at your work and told you what you missed. Then you did it again. Enough repetitions eventually turned into well-earned judgment. Useful wisdom. AI changes that equation because it lets us remove friction from knowledge work at extraordinary speeds. The first kind of friction was wasted effort and should disappear. Nobody needs an employee spending hours formatting a document to build character. Nobody becomes a stronger executive by manually performing work that software does accurately in seconds. The second kind plays a key role in a person’s development. Forming a hypothesis before seeing a polished answer. Deciding which evidence matters. Making a recommendation before knowing whether the boss agrees. Being wrong, learning from it, and trying again. Organizations have rarely had to distinguish between the two kinds of friction because both were built into the work. Now, they do. Remove both kinds of friction indiscriminately, and you make today’s employees considerably more productive while quietly removing the experiences that would have made them tomorrow’s leaders. This is the talent gap.
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Most organizations already struggle to get enough useful coaching conversations between managers and employees. AI makes avoiding those conversations easier. Imagine an employee produces something that looks good, but is too generic to be useful or isn’t likely to work in the context it’s designed for. A manager can fix it themselves, ask AI to improve it, or decide it is good enough and move on. All of those options except coaching are faster. So the manager becomes more productive, the employee produces
∙ Formatting the document
∙ Formatting a hypothesis before seeing the answer
∙ Retrieving information
∙ Deciding which evidence matters
∙ Repetitive first drafts
∙ Recommending before the boss weighs in
∙ Clerical reconciliation
∙ Reconciling conflicting information
∙ Summarizing what was said
∙ Being wrong, hearing about it, & trying again
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more work, the organization sees increased efficiencies throughout, and nobody gets better. A company can look increasingly efficient while the development of its people quietly erodes.
Mike Meagher
Imagine if regular coaching conversations focused on the ownership of the thinking. Can this person explain how they arrived at a recommendation? Can they name the assumptions carrying it? Can they say where AI influenced the work and where they disagreed with it? Can they tell you what would have to be true for them to change their mind? Those questions tell us more about someone’s readiness to lead than the output of their work alone.
We have been living with these questions inside Sagency. Our team has heavily invested in powerful AI tools and uses them regularly. We, too, value intentional efficiencies, just as the clients we serve do. Paired with that desire for efficiency is a shared expectation: own the work, and be able to defend the thinking behind it.
Ashley Blazek
Whether your people grow or escape to intellectual tourism over the next three years is a choice your organization is making right now, mostly without noticing. Three years from now, someone on your team will need to step up and lead. What will your organization do today to redesign work so they’re prepared for it?
The authors of this article are both part of the team at Sagency. Sagency is a strategic advisory, leadership development, and executive search firm that helps organizations get stronger as they grow through Strategic Clarity, Leadership Capacity, Talent Depth Execution Discipline, and HighTrust, High-Ownership Culture Learn more at sagencytalent.com
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By Brady Drake |
Provided by Neil Keltgen
A Scoreboard for the Second Half Century Club strength day, the rubber chicken has one job— expose a bad push-up. A member lowers his chest toward the floor. If the chicken does not squawk, the rep does not count. Nearby, a strength coach wearing a referee shirt watches for bent knees, incomplete movements, and the other small compromises people make when their muscles begin bargaining with them. There are seven events in all, including dead hangs, pullups, push-ups, planks, wall sits, burpees, and ending with a farmer carry with 75-pound dumbbells Members have been drafted onto teams. Results are entered into a live scoreboard. Points are awarded, standings change and trash talk fills the room. It is playful by design. It is also surprisingly serious. Before one competition, a member told Century Club founder Neil Keltgen that he had already made three nervous trips to the bathroom. He had not felt that way since high school football. “That’s why it works,” Keltgen said. “We haven’t felt like that in years.” By the next morning, the men were already thinking about the next test. They know how long they held the bar. They know how many pull-ups they completed. More importantly, they know somebody else is working to beat them. That feeling—the return of the butterflies—may explain Century Club better than any fitness metric can. Keltgen did not simply build a workout program. He built a place for men who miss being on a team.
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Keltgen has spent his professional life in sales, an environment governed by targets, pipelines, performance reviews, and dashboards. He is also one of the contributors to Sales Hangover, a podcast in which sales professionals and managers discuss accountability, motivation and the fundamentals behind sustained performance. Approximately three years ago, he began wondering why he was not applying the same thinking to his health. He opened a Google Sheet and started building a personal dashboard. He identified measurements he cared about in strength, cardiovascular fitness, and other areas, then began recording his results. It was not meant to become a business. It was simply an attempt to make health visible.
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At the same time, Keltgen was becoming increasingly skeptical of the online longevity movement—the endless parade of optimization strategies, supplements, protocols and personalities promising that the right combination might carry someone to 100, 110 or 125. He was interested in aging, but not immortality.
He had begun looking differently at his parents, aunts, uncles, and other people around him as they grew older. The question was no longer whether he could add years to his life. It was whether those years would still contain the things that made life worth living. “I don’t want to stop at 75,” he said. Keltgen invited four friends to join him. His pitch was to get a Garmin watch, follow the standards, and let the group see what you are doing. Then something unexpected happened. The four men began getting into noticeably better shape. Other people asked what they were doing. Those conversations produced phone calls from men who wanted Keltgen to work with them. A few even suggested that they should be paying him. Eventually, he made a website and prepared to create a Facebook page. Keltgen had barely used Facebook in years and inadvertently published a promotional reel before realizing what he had done. He was walking on a treadmill when inquiries started arriving. “I’m getting leads, and I’m in sales my whole life, and I’m like, ‘What do I do now?’” he said. The program grew from four members to 17 by the time of the interview. Keltgen deliberately slowed enrollment while he refined the experience, identified gaps, and considered how another coach could eventually be brought in without weakening the culture.
A look at the scoreboards. Results from each workout are tracked so participants can see their progress, not only on themselves, but in number form.
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Century Club’s current website describes its first Fargo group, or “pod,” as full and says a second pod for men 37 and older is now opening. The demand surprised Keltgen. The reason for it did not. The program gives men something many of them have been missing since organized sports ended—competition, accountability and teammates who notice whether they showed up.
Century Club operates on three overlapping rhythms: daily standards, a weekly scoreboard and a monthly competition. The daily standards cover the unremarkable behaviors that are easy to dismiss precisely because they are so familiar: maintaining a consistent bedtime and wake time, drinking enough water, accumulating steps, moving for approximately 40 to 45 minutes, eating enough protein, and strength training at least twice a week. None of those ideas is revolutionary. That is the point.
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Keltgen believes the health industry’s fixation on optimization has allowed people to overlook the power of repeatedly doing ordinary things. His members are not waiting to discover the perfect exercise program. They are building systems that make the essential behaviors difficult to avoid. “Standards demand systems,” Keltgen said. A member struggling to drink enough water does not need another lecture about hydration. He needs a repeatable structure. Keltgen’s own system begins with approximately 20 ounces soon after waking and another 20 around his morning workout. By 8 a.m., he has created momentum instead of leaving the entire standard for the end of the day. “If it’s Neil’s standard, you won’t do it,” he said. “It has to become your standard.” Keltgen readily credits author James Clear for shaping his thinking about systems and goals. Century Club turns that concept into something concrete. Members do not merely announce that they intend to become healthier. They establish when, where, and how the required actions will happen. The weekly scoreboard then reveals whether those systems worked.
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Garmin data allows Keltgen and the members to see training time, steps, exercise load, heart-rate zones, sleep, and recovery trends. A green check indicates that a weekly standard was reached. Members who hit at least four of seven benchmarks are considered to have won the week. There are consequences for repeatedly missing the standards. Keltgen does not expect perfection, and illnesses or injuries are treated differently, but a member who continually falls short without engaging in the process may eventually be asked to leave. That distinction matters. Century Club is intended to create accountability, not another app people can ignore without anyone noticing. “Consistency is our superpower,” Keltgen said.
Century Club is not promising a reinvention in 30 days. Keltgen wants to know what happens after six months, one year, and eventually five. “Impress me by doing this for a year,” he said. “If you do it for a year, just think about what could happen in five.” That philosophy also means learning to pivot. Keltgen likes running, but recurring hip discomfort has forced him to think seriously about alternatives. Other members may need to move from a treadmill to a bike, rower, or swimming pool when an injury appears. The exercise can change without abandoning the larger standard. The program is equally flexible when life—not the body—gets in the way. One member became anxious about losing his perfect score while traveling with his family. Keltgen told him to stop.
The scoreboard may be universal, but the route to it is not. Keltgen does not require members to join a particular gym or complete identical workouts. One person might lift heavy weights. Another might work with a personal trainer. Someone else may rely on bodyweight exercises, a rowing machine, cycling, hiking, or swimming.
“We are not chasing perfection,” he said. “Go have fun with your family on vacation. Lose a week. Don’t lose two. Stumble, don’t fall.” Health is supposed to make a fuller life possible, not become another obligation that prevents someone from enjoying it.
When someone asks what kind of cardio he should do, Keltgen responds with questions. Do you enjoy running? Do you like biking? Would you rather dance?
Keltgen places cardiovascular fitness and strength near the center of his system because he wants members to preserve both endurance and physical capacity as they age. No single measurement determines how long someone will live, and an association does not guarantee an individual outcome. Still, the broader direction of the program is supported by substantial research. A 2022 meta-analysis covering 37 cohort studies and more than 2.25 million participants found a strong inverse association between cardiorespiratory fitness and all-cause mortality risk. A separate multinational study of adults 90 and older found that greater muscle strength was gradually associated with lower mortality risk. The measurements are not destiny, but they are meaningful indicators of physical capacity.
That flexibility separates Century Club from the short-term transformations Keltgen distrusts. He has experimented with fasting, carnivore-style eating, and other health trends himself. What he learned was that even a productive strategy becomes useless when someone cannot—or does not want to—sustain it.
Each Century Club member also completes a weekly interval workout commonly known as the Norwegian four-by-four: four hard minutes followed by three minutes of active recovery, repeated four times. Members can run, bike, row, or use another modality.
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A frequently cited randomized study of 40 moderately trained men found that four-by-four intervals performed three times a week produced greater improvement in maximal oxygen uptake than equal-work moderate-intensity training. Century Club uses the workout once a week, reflecting Keltgen’s preference for a sustainable minimum rather than imposing a research protocol that could overwhelm newer members.
When a person begins sleeping, exercising, hydrating and eating differently at the same time he begins taking a supplement, Keltgen said, it can be tempting to give the product all the credit. “But what was it?” he asked. “It was you.”
The rest of the week emphasizes easier cardiovascular work, strength training, and recovery. Sleep is particularly important to Keltgen. He protects a roughly 9:30 p.m. bedtime and uses breathing exercises when he notices his stress rising. He is less interested in exotic recovery tools than in helping members consistently spend enough time asleep. Alcohol is not prohibited. Keltgen does not lecture members or pretend he never drank. Instead, he asks them to look at what their own data shows. After noticing the effect alcohol appeared to have on his overnight recovery, Keltgen decided to take one month off. That month became three years. At a later group gathering, he listened as members compared the mocktails they had begun drinking. The experience is consistent with studies using wearable and heart-rate data. Large real-world analyses have associated acute alcohol intake with increased nocturnal resting heart rate, reduced heart-rate variability, shorter sleep and impaired overnight cardiovascular recovery. Keltgen does not oppose supplements, hormone treatment, or other interventions when they are appropriate. He objects to treating them as substitutes for movement, nutrition, recovery and time.
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Century Club members are not competing to become professional athletes. They are competing because competition changes effort. On a normal day, a man may believe he can complete only 15 pull-ups. With teammates watching and points on the line, he sometimes completes 20. The monthly strength standards give members something specific to pursue. Gold-level marks include a two-minute dead hang, 15 pull-ups, a four-minute plank and a threeand-a-half-minute wall sit. Keltgen tracks each result, allowing members to see progress that might otherwise be forgotten. He has watched members move from being unable to complete a single pull-up to completing one, then four, then 12 or 15. At the competitions, the strongest men are not the only ones celebrated. Sometimes the loudest moment is a member achieving a first repetition that once seemed impossible. “You never thought you could be that person,” Keltgen said. That is what he means when he says, “I don’t have a promise. I have proof.”
The proof he is referring to is not a clinical trial. It is the accumulated record of completed workouts, improved tests, changed routines, and members who continue returning month after month. Eventually, Keltgen wants the experience to feel even more like a living sports league. He imagines a website where a workout automatically updates the scoreboard, members can review team standings, and new participants experience their own version of draft night. He sees himself less as a fitness influencer than a play-by-play announcer documenting what the members accomplish. “I’m just announcing what the people are doing,” he said. “I want them to shine.”
The “Century” in Century Club is often misunderstood. It is not a pledge to live to 100. It represents Keltgen’s goal of eventually building a community of 100 Fargo men pursuing the club’s standards. He believes that number would be large enough to create a visible local movement—a group capable of supporting charitable events, taking on collective challenges, and offering an alternative model of what middle age can look like. That goal also reflects the culture surrounding the club. According to America’s Health Rankings’ analysis of 2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, 20.5% of North Dakota adults reported binge or heavy drinking, compared with 17% nationally. North Dakota ranked 46th among the states on the measure. Keltgen is not suggesting that one training group can solve that problem. He wants to build a compelling counterculture: one in which men gather around movement, competition and mutual improvement instead of assuming every social connection must revolve around drinking.
men are showing up differently outside the gym. “What everybody thinks is a physical transformation, I think is more of a spiritual, mental transformation,” he said. “You become somebody different when you put your health first.”
Century Club’s early success has created a familiar business temptation. People hear the concept and begin talking about expansion, scalability, and how quickly it could grow. Keltgen is much more interested in protecting the quality of the experience. “Whatever happened to just doing a business that you wanted to help people?” he said. He knows that Century Club depends on trust. Members need to feel comfortable failing publicly, asking questions, and admitting when they are struggling. One disruptive personality could change the atmosphere for everyone, which is why Keltgen has declined prospective members he did not believe were joining for the right reasons. He is equally cautious about coaching. His first group was intentionally limited to approximately 20 members. Rather than immediately hiring someone unfamiliar with the culture, he wants future coaches to emerge from within the program and demonstrate that they understand its standards. Slow growth is not a lack of ambition. For Keltgen, it is quality control. He can imagine Century Club becoming his full-time work eventually—something he could continue doing from his 50s into his 80s or 90s. But he does not want to build a business that grows so rapidly that it stops producing the transformations that made people interested in the first place.
More importantly, he believes the effects extend beyond the members themselves. “This is better fathers, better husbands,” he said. “They’re better at work. They have energy. They’re excited.” Some of the most meaningful feedback has come from members’ spouses, who have quietly told Keltgen that the
centuryclub.coach
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Don’t Invest Before You Validate Demand By Michael Danielson, Veterans Business Outreach Specialist Photo Courtesy of VBOC of the Dakotas
A
rtificial intelligence, low-code development platforms, and affordable software developers have made it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to build digital products. Across North Dakota and South Dakota, business owners are exploring opportunities to create mobile apps, online marketplaces, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, and industry-specific technology solutions. Many see software as an opportunity to solve problems they have experienced firsthand or to modernize industries that have traditionally relied on manual processes. While innovation should be encouraged, one of the most expensive mistakes entrepreneurs continue to make is building software before proving that customers are willing to pay for it. Every year, entrepreneurs invest thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars developing software they believe the market needs. They hire developers, build feature-rich platforms, create polished websites, and spend months perfecting products that ultimately struggle to attract users. The problem usually isn’t poor programming. It is the absence of verified demand.
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This challenge is particularly relevant for entrepreneurs in North and South Dakota. Many business owners identify genuine problems within agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, construction, logistics, or professional services and immediately begin thinking about software solutions. They assume that because they experience the problem themselves, others must be willing to purchase a product that solves it. Unfortunately, assumptions rarely replace customer validation. However, a problem is only a business opportunity when someone is willing to spend money to solve it. One of the most common misconceptions among firsttime software entrepreneurs is believing that building the product comes before finding customers. In reality, successful software companies often reverse that sequence. They spend significant time talking with potential customers before writing a single line of code. They conduct interviews, gather feedback, test pricing, and identify exactly which problems customers consider worth solving. Many discover that the original idea needs significant changes before development ever begins. For small business owners, this approach dramatically reduces risk. Imagine an entrepreneur in Fargo who believes local contractors need software to manage equipment rentals. Instead of immediately hiring a software development firm, they could begin by interviewing fifty contractors across North Dakota, South Dakota, and neighboring states. They might discover that scheduling equipment isn’t their biggest frustration. Perhaps billing delays, labor shortages, or inventory tracking represent far greater pain points. Those
conversations could completely reshape the product before development begins, saving both time and money. The same principle applies throughout the Dakotas. A rancher may envision a livestock management application. A manufacturer in Watertown may see an opportunity for production scheduling software. A healthcare provider in Bismarck may identify inefficiencies in patient communication. Each idea may have merit, but none should move into expensive development until prospective customers confirm both the problem and their willingness to pay for a solution. Remember, customer conversations remain one of the least expensive and highest-value forms of market research available. Many entrepreneurs worry that discussing their idea publicly will allow someone else to steal it, but execution is almost always more valuable than secrecy. Experienced entrepreneurs understand that ideas are common while successful implementation is difficult. Talking with customers rarely creates competition. Instead, it creates understanding. Those conversations should focus less on asking whether people “like the idea” and more on understanding existing behavior. People naturally want to be encouraging, especially in smaller communities where relationships matter. Asking, “Would you use this software?” often produces overly optimistic answers. Instead, ask questions such as: How do you currently solve this problem? What does that process cost? What
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frustrations occur most often? What have you tried before? How much would solving this problem be worth to your business? These questions reveal real demand rather than hypothetical interest.
and improve based on real-world experience. Customers become partners in shaping the product rather than critics evaluating a finished solution that may miss the mark.
Another costly mistake is building too many features too early. Entrepreneurs frequently envision a complete platform with dashboards, reporting tools, mobile applications, artificial intelligence, integrations, customer portals, payment systems, and dozens of additional capabilities. Each feature adds development costs while increasing complexity. Instead, successful software businesses often begin with remarkably simple products.
Technology has also made validation easier than ever. Entrepreneurs no longer need completed software to determine market interest. Landing pages, online demonstrations, digital surveys, pre-orders, email waiting lists, clickable prototypes, and even manually delivered services can all help measure demand before investing heavily in development. In many cases, entrepreneurs can test whether customers will purchase a solution without writing any software at all.
Rather than creating an allinclusive platform, many launch with what is commonly known as a Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. An MVP includes only the essential functionality needed to solve one clearly defined customer problem. Instead of attempting to satisfy every potential customer, it focuses on delivering one meaningful outcome exceptionally well. This approach allows entrepreneurs to begin generating customer feedback much earlier. Instead of spending eighteen months building software behind closed doors, they can release an initial version within a few months, learn from actual users,
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For example, suppose a business owner in Sioux Falls wants to build software that automatically schedules maintenance for commercial fleets. Rather than immediately hiring developers, they could first offer the service manually using spreadsheets and existing scheduling tools. If customers willingly pay for the service, the entrepreneur gains confidence that automation through software represents a worthwhile investment. If customers show little interest, valuable lessons are learned before significant capital has been spent. This philosophy is especially
important for businesses operating with limited resources. Unlike venture-backed technology startups in larger markets, many entrepreneurs throughout North and South Dakota are investing their own savings or borrowing through traditional financing. Every dollar spent on unnecessary development reduces capital available for marketing, hiring employees, purchasing equipment, or expanding operations. Building software should accelerate a proven business model, not become an expensive experiment searching for one. Artificial intelligence has lowered development costs and increased access to software creation tools, but it has not changed the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. AI can generate code, design interfaces, write documentation, and speed development significantly. What it cannot do is create customer demand where none exists. Technology reduces the cost of building products, but it does not reduce the importance of understanding markets. Entrepreneurs should also remember that software companies are still businesses. Success depends on customer acquisition, pricing strategy, retention, support,
cash flow, and ongoing product improvement. Many founders devote enormous attention to programming while spending comparatively little time learning how they will consistently attract and retain paying customers. But truthfully, marketing and sales often determine success far more than technical sophistication. This is where experienced business advisors can provide tremendous value. Organizations such as the Small Business Development Centers, SCORE, Veterans Business Outreach Centers, Women’s Business Centers, and local economic development organizations regularly help entrepreneurs evaluate ideas before significant investments are made. They can assist with market research, financial projections, customer discovery strategies, pricing models, and business planning. Asking difficult questions early often prevents expensive mistakes later. There is also tremendous value in starting with industries entrepreneurs already know well. Some of the strongest software companies emerge because founders have lived the problems they seek to solve. Contractors understand construction. Farmers understand agriculture. Healthcare professionals understand clinical workflows. Manufacturers understand production bottlenecks. Deep industry knowledge often produces better solutions because founders recognize challenges that outsiders overlook. Even then, however, experience should be validated through conversations with many prospective customers rather than assumptions based on one business or one community. Perhaps the most encouraging reality for entrepreneurs across the
Dakotas is that validating demand costs far less than correcting poor assumptions. A few weeks spent interviewing customers can save months of unnecessary development. A simple prototype can reveal whether a market truly exists. A pilot customer can provide insights that no brainstorming session ever could. Innovation remains one of the strongest drivers of economic growth in North Dakota and South Dakota. New software businesses will continue emerging across agriculture, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, logistics, education, and countless other industries. Many will create jobs, improve productivity, and strengthen regional economies. The entrepreneurs most likely to succeed, however, will not necessarily be those who build first. They will be the ones who listen first. Ultimately, successful software companies are not built on great ideas alone. They are built on solving problems that customers are already willing to pay to eliminate. Before investing thousands of dollars in development, entrepreneurs should invest dozens of conversations in understanding their market. The goal is not simply to build software. It is to build a business. In the end, the most valuable line of code is often the one that is never written because customer conversations revealed a better opportunity. For entrepreneurs throughout North and South Dakota, validating demand before investing in technology is not slowing innovation, it is increasing the likelihood that innovation becomes a profitable, sustainable business.
10 Questions
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Questions
ohn Machacek, Chief Innovation Officer for the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, has worked with countless startups throughout our community over the years. He knows their ups, and their downs, but most of all, he knows the questions to ask them. Here are John Machacek’s 10 questions for Nick Beste of Full Service Foods.
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01 WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH FOR FULL SERVICE FOODS? Full Service Foods is a food co-packer that specializes in sauces, dips, and dressings. We’re unique in that we help develop products for customers but also are extremely nimble and flexible with our minimum order quantities and lead times. We’re built to take care of the small to mid-size players that the large food plants can’t accommodate.
02 WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT SOME TARGET CUSTOMERS MAY BE FOR PARTNERING WITH FULL SERVICE FOODS, SUCH AS THEIR SIZE, STAGE, OR TYPE OF FOOD PRODUCTS? We work with regional restaurant groups, grocery chains and brands, as well as food manufacturers. It’s everything from a restaurant chain that maybe has a couple restaurants, or even one very popular restaurant, all the way up to, you know, some of the largest regional grocery chains that are out there. Many of our customers would be restaurants, grocery stores, and brands that you’re very familiar with. Many of our customers are Pride of Dakota
companies, so it’s fun to work together with them to spread their brands across the region. What we’re really good at is, let’s say somebody started a brand and they’ve been, you know, operating at the farmer’s market or they’ve been selling it in stores themselves for a while. Now they’re kind of at that point where it’s beginning to be too much for them to make or do on their own. That’s where we really come in and help them out, to kind of take that next step. And then, similarly for restaurants and grocery chains, maybe they can make the ranch dressing for a couple of restaurants, but as soon as they start to get a little bigger and they want consistency and whatnot, that’s where we can really help them. Sauces, dips, dressings, salsas, kind of anything somewhat liquefied is what we’re really good at. We do a lot of pasta sauce and salsas. We actually do a decent amount of drink mixes, salad dressings, cheese dips, things of that nature. Also, we do retail packaging for things you can buy on the shelf, but we also do a lot of bulk packaging. Such as, if you are a restaurant or a grocery store, you may want something in a bulk 5-gallon container. We’re big enough that we have economies of scale to reduce people’s costs, but nimble enough that we can still allow customers to have tolerable minimum order quantities and lead times.
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COMPANY THAT PRODUCES AND/ OR PACKAGES PRODUCTS FOR OTHER BUSINESSES. DID YOUR EXPERIENCE UTILIZING A COPACKER WITH YOUR PRIOR FOOD CPG BUSINESS MIGHTY SPARK INFLUENCE YOUR DECISION TO INVEST IN FULL SERVICE FOODS IN HILLSBORO, TO BECOME A CO-PACKER YOURSELF? AND ALSO FOR THE READER, BY THE WAY, CPG REFERS TO CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS. 100%. Yeah, definitely. To have your own production facility where everything is dedicated and devoted to just your product and brand tends to be inefficient unless you’re at a really big scale. So, for small to mid-sized businesses to effectively operate something like that, it’s very difficult. It’s better and more costeffective to spread that out across multiple brands via a co-packer. Also, along those lines would be food safety. As soon as you kind of start getting a little bit bigger of a brand, food safety is a very important deal, and that’s where a plant like ours, where we have dedicated food safety resources, can really help you take the next step.’
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04 SINCE I MENTIONED YOUR CPG COMPANY MIGHTY SPARK, I WANT TO ASK ABOUT THAT AS WELL. FROM WORKING WITH SOME CPG STARTUPS, I UNDERSTAND THE NEXT STEP FROM SELLING REGIONALLY TO MORE NATIONALLY CAN BE A BIG JUMP, AS IT OFTEN REQUIRES THE RESOURCES AND CONNECTIONS IN ORDER TO SUSTAINABLY SCALE. AND MANY PROBABLY NEVER MAKE IT TO THE POINT WHERE THEY CAN BE ACQUIRED LIKE YOU DID WITH MIGHTY SPARK, SO CONGRATS ON THAT. WAS THAT PARTNERSHIP WITH A PRIVATE EQUITY GROUP THE ROCKET FUEL YOU NEEDED TO GET MIGHTY SPARK TO THAT NEXT SCALING STAGE? Yes, it definitely helped, but I would say what it really helped with was it helped us recruit and attract an incredible team. So really to me, the
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team was the rocket fuel. Like, we had some awesome team members who had built some very impressive brands before, one of the primary ones being Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop, the popcorn brand. They successfully scaled and grew that business. We were able to attract, I think, eight of those team members after Angie’s sold their business. That was a huge boost for our business.
05 BETWEEN WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED FROM MIGHTY SPARK AND NOW OPERATING A COPACKING FACILITY, DO YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULAR ADVICE OR WORDS OF CAUTION FOR UP AND COMING FOOD CPG STARTUPS? The first is that gross margins are so important. Making sure that you really understand your costs and your margins is really critical. That’s number one. Number two is that “velocity is king”. What I mean by that is it’s easy to get the product into a grocery store, but it has to sell once you’re in the grocery store. And that’s velocity. And that’s really what should be 99% of a startup CPG’s focus, is ensuring that the product on the shelf sells extremely well. They should be putting all their effort and energy into that. Then a third thing I would say is, and maybe
this sounds bad, but you have to be ruthlessly focused. I’ve noticed that people who are starting out, and I being one of them, get pitched a lot. Every person you meet, they know somebody, or they know of someone who can offer you some sort of service that’s going to help you or this and that. You must be very selective because, number one, you can waste a lot of money on it, but number two, you can waste a lot of time. You have to stay really focused and be really skeptical of those various things being thrown at you. You can get distracted real quick.
06 ANOTHER COMPANY I WANTED TO BRING UP WAS YOUR OWNERSHIP OF VILLAGE FOODS, OR VILLAGE SALSA BY BRAND. WAS THAT COMPANY ALREADY CONNECTED TO FULL SERVICE FOODS, OR DID IT JUST MAKE SENSE TO BUY INTO THAT COMPANY WITH WHAT FULL SERVICE FOODS DOES, OR MAYBE YOU CAME INTO VILLAGE FIRST, THEN FULL SERVICE FOODS? I had Village first, and we made that product in its own facility. At one point the company was talking with Full Service Foods to discuss making
new products, as it makes a wider variety of products. So, it just made a lot of sense to then buy Full Service Foods and put them together, for a couple reasons. One, obviously, now we can make the salsa at Full Service Foods, but also, we have now launched a bunch of new products with Village, and we have a bunch more products in the pipeline that we’re going to be launching that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.
07 BY THE WAY, THIS MAKES ME HARKEN BACK TO MY YOUNGER DAYS OF DEVOURING VILLAGE SALSA AND TORTILLA CHIPS WHILE WATCHING SPORTS OR MUSIC VIDEOS AT HOME. I’M GUESSING MANY OTHERS IN THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY HAVE SIMILAR MEMORIES WITH THE BRAND. I KNOW WHEN I COMMUNICATED WITH BRADY, THE EDITOR OF THIS MAGAZINE, ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW, HE COMMENTED WITH, I QUOTE, “I HAVE EATEN SO MUCH OF THAT SALSA IN MY
LIFETIME”. HAVE YOU RUN INTO THAT KIND OF NOSTALGIA AND LOVE FOR THE PRODUCT SINCE BECOMING PART OF THE COMPANY? The history of the Village Salsa brand is interesting as it has been around for over 40 years. It’s the number one selling salsa in the Midwest. I think it’s really cool to think about this Red River Valley brand that started in Grand Forks. It was only kind of in that region for a very long time. The former owner is an awesome guy and ran it for a very long time. He really focused his time on making the product and the quality and ensuring it’s great, which then gave us the foundation to be able to go to other stores and use that reputation of quality and the sales to help open up other markets. It was initially sold only in North Dakota and parts of western Minnesota for many years and now it’s sold as far east as Pittsburgh, and as far south as Florida. We’ve helped to bring this Red River Valley brand more nationwide. And for many years it was just the two salsa products, Mild and Hot, but now with the capabilities of Full Service Foods, we’ve launched guacamole and Pico de Gallo, and they’re doing incredible! We’ll be rolling out some more products here coming up soon too. So it’s pretty cool to think about where this brand can go in the future. I’m really excited about it.
08 ASIDE FROM ACQUIRING FULL SERVICE FOODS AND VILLAGE SALSA, WHICH ARE IN THE FOOD SPACE, I’M AWARE FROM A PRIOR CONVERSATION THAT YOU’VE ALSO BOUGHT INTO A BUSINESS, OR BUSINESSES, IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT STRATEGY? Yeah, so I got into the aggregate supply business. We provide aggregate products like rocks, sand, and gravel to contractors and landscapers in the region. That’s going really well. Part of my reason for that was trying to diversify a bit away from food, you know, and just have something different in my portfolio. I also like that I don’t think technology is really going to impact this industry. I was looking for something that was pretty safe and long-term reliable, and not really going anywhere with AI and everything else going on in the world. In addition, I was able to partner with a great regional company, RJ Zavoral & Sons. They’re an awesome group that I have admired for a long time, so I was really eager to partner with them. So when the opportunity came up, it was a perfect fit. Right now, I’m actively looking at a couple of other sort of constructionrelated businesses in the region to acquire them. I’m looking at another food business as well. Then also
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some other non-related businesses. So yeah, I’m definitely looking for other things to either invest in or buy. I’m very interested in that.
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the roses. Outside of that, I would have focused on bringing on a great team as fast as humanly possible. In the early days, we didn’t have the resources to hire so I neglected it, but I wish that I had spent more time trying to figure out a way.
opportunities for finding great talent that wants to be a part of growing newer businesses. I’d love to also see more opportunities for finding opportunities to acquire or invest in businesses in the region.
FULL SERVICE FOODS WHAT KIND OF HINDSIGHT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME TO A YOUNGER NICK? In hindsight, I wish that I hadn’t worried so much and just enjoyed the journey. It probably would have helped me if I had been able to try to relax along the way and smell
10 WHAT CAN WE DO AS A COMMUNITY TO HELP YOU AND YOUR BUSINESSES SUCCEED?
fullservicefoods.com
VILLAGE SALSA villagesalsa.com
The community is great and there are many awesome people driving the startup community forward. It’d be helpful to continue seeing new
About John John Machacek has been helping local startups with the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation for over a decade. Before joining the GFMEDC ream, John's career path has varied in areas such as banking, accounting, and management in the nonprofit, food & retail sectors.
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