From downtown with love

Fargo’s former downtown leader

Dave Anderson sees new potential in metro

BY KRIS BEVILL

It’s been nearly two decades, but Dave Anderson still likes to tell the story about how he and his family first met Fargo.

The Iowa native was working in downtown economic development in Sioux City and was perfectly content where he was, until a colleague began lobbying him to consider taking on the leadership role for Fargo’s Downtown Community Partnership. He’d never been to Fargo and initially balked at the notion of relocating, but eventually became intrigued by the possibility of helping a passionate group of people rebuild a downtown that had deteriorated badly.

“Downtown then was really not much to talk about,” he says. “It had declined about as much as it can decline.”

Taking a chance, the Anderson family piled into their vehicle one Friday evening in February 2000 and made the trek north to see Fargo for themselves. The introduction was “classic Fargo” in late winter, he says - cold, snowy and windy. “But we woke up the next morning and discovered this beautiful blue, sunlight sky.” Anderson, his wife, Linda, and their three kids explored the town and liked the neighborhoods they discovered. However, downtown definitely needed some work, and they decided it could only be improved from its current state. He agreed to take the job and Anderson returned to Fargo in July that year- just in time for the downtown street fair - this time for good.

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Anderson says his initial goal as CEO of the Downtown Community Partnership was to bring life back into something lifeless. As in many cities, Fargo’s mall had damaged the health of its downtown and something new needed to be done to repair the city’s heart. Anderson says he was fortunate to work with a supportive community and people who were willing to collaborate to achieve that goal. “There was already really good energy and people were doing what they needed to do to be inclusive and collaborative and get lots of ideas,” he says. “As I started to insert some of my notions and ideas, I encouraged everybody to not think about this as bringing it back to what it was. ...It needed something that was going to be a discovery for a new generation. I think more than anything, now, 15 years later, what’s really fun is that it really is that.”

To be sure, Fargo has become a hotbed for millenials and its blossoming startup community. The kids who really were just kids when Anderson arrived with his family have grown into the young adults who are launching tech startups and organizing community events at any of the many trendy new businesses that have set up shop downtown. And when work and play is done, a growing number of resi- dents return to their homes -- in downtown, a concept which would have been laughable 15 years ago.

Anderson credits a large number of people for downtown Fargo’s revival, including pioneering property owners like Doug Scraper, who helped develop one of downtown’s first fine dining establishments; Karen Stoker, the daring and innovative owner of the Hotel Donaldson; Greg Danz of Zandbroz variety store; and the Olson family, who maintained their Royal Jewelers’ location in downtown through thick and thin. Others, like Margie Bailly, who served for years as executive director of the iconic Fargo Theatre, set a strong leadership example for fellow downtown lovers. Anderson also notes that creators and proponents of the state’s Renaissance Zone tax credit program had a significant impact on the area’s rebirth and made sure that economic developers would have a “really big hammer in the toolbox” as they worked to attract new businesses.

Of course, not every new business has worked, and not all businesses that were in place when Anderson rolled into town remain, but the vibe of downtown has become very organic in recent years and continues to roll on strong. Anderson himself moved on five years ago to become public affairs director for Sanford Health, but he remains “Downtown Dave” to most people, including Sanford’s leadership.

And while his new role has been “a wonderful learning experience,” and downtown Fargo’s continued evolution gives him great pride, the civic-minded, downtown-loving part of him continues to attract him to new projects and people. He’s actively involved with the Moorhead Business Association’s efforts to revitalize its core. In early August he expected ideas to be revealed within the next two months. “We’re assembling what I think will be an interesting new vision, not the same as Fargo, but similar in respect to ‘What is it we can do that will create a discovery?’”

And as businesses continue to confront the struggle of attracting and retaining employees, Anderson and his family also relish their role as examples of transplants who have set roots and flourished on the northern Plains. Now, they’ve become the locals who love to show newcomers the area’s potential. “It’s fun to bring people here and watch the light in their eyes go off when they realize what a great place this is,” he says. PB