Downtown Revitalization: Fargo, North Dakota

[Metro Jacksonville]

Downtown Revitalization: Fargo, North Dakota



Metro Jacksonville takes a visit to successfully revitalized downtown that most Jaxsons know very little about: Fargo.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-jun-downtown-revitalization-fargo-north-dakota

[vicupstate]

Great find on the video Lake, it made me wish I had gone into the building.  Fargo really has made the very most of what it has to work with, IMO.  The midwest really does have some great cities.     

[strider]

Cool choice!  It reminds me of some of the places in Ohio - Norwalk, Sandusky, ETC.  They often have the same feel and much of the same style of architecture. It appears to me that perhaps smaller cities have an easier time adapting and so have a better chance of success. 

[I-10east]

Fargo can go as far as it wants to, the sky's the limit!!!

Cool choice!  It reminds me of some of the places in Ohio - Norwalk, Sandusky, ETC.

Sandusky rocks because of one reason and one reason only, the 'Rollercoaster Capital of the World' Cedar Point!!!

[Ocklawaha]

Been in both railroad depots, came in and went out on the train (what else)? Funny how all of these little towns and city's seem to have their own unique 'soul.' Eunice, LA has great coffee on 2nd Street, as well as the Cajun Music Hall Of Fame. Dodge City, KS needs no introduction, Greensburg KS doesn't either. Green Cove has a beautiful Spring and Park, Angel's Camp, CA has the Bull Frog Jumping Contests. Sierra Blanca, TX is where the 'southern' golden spike was laid.. etc... etc...  Never cease to be amazed at the cool and unexpected surprises hidden in towns and cities everywhere.

Back to Fargo. The last time I was in Fargo, Summer fell on a Sunday morning, the lovelies I was traveling with slept in and missed it!

[krazeeboi]

Very attractive historic storefronts. I like how that residential building blends in with the historic streetscape and provides street-level retail spaces.

[spuwho]

Fargo is a great town, very friendly people. The growth of NDSU has helped but also the new oil money coming into the state.  Embracing their old buildings to create the new ones.
They are having some flooding again up in the Souris and Red again this year due to record snows. Hope it doesn't kill the downtown again. The only objection a Floridian would have is the nice winter weather they have.

[bencrix]

It appears to me that perhaps smaller cities have an easier time adapting and so have a better chance of success.

This is an interesting point. There are several towns in GA and SC that I am familiar with that seem to support this idea (e.g. Columbus, Aiken).

Of course, there are many, many others that have failed / are failing. Perhaps small towns feel closer to the edge than a bigger city and are therefore more motivated to act positively.

There is also some fairly-well researched advantages to being small w/ respect to networks, decision-making.

Some folks like Jim Kunstler like to take an extreme view and imply that this scale of development is our future and that big cities are doomed.

The mainstream sustainability / walkability folks tend to hold up NYC as the paragon of urbanism. Of course anything NYC does is pretty hard to replicate.

Perhaps there is more value for Jax (and other cities of its size) in extrapolating from the small / mid-size model than the mega-size model.

[IrvAdams]

It appears to me that perhaps smaller cities have an easier time adapting and so have a better chance of success.

This is an interesting point. There are several towns in GA and SC that I am familiar with that seem to support this idea (e.g. Columbus, Aiken).

Of course, there are many, many others that have failed / are failing. Perhaps small towns feel closer to the edge than a bigger city and are therefore more motivated to act positively.

There is also some fairly-well researched advantages to being small w/ respect to networks, decision-making.

Some folks like Jim Kunstler like to take an extreme view and imply that this scale of development is our future and that big cities are doomed.

The mainstream sustainability / walkability folks tend to hold up NYC as the paragon of urbanism. Of course anything NYC does is pretty hard to replicate.

Perhaps there is more value for Jax (and other cities of its size) in extrapolating from the small / mid-size model than the mega-size model.

I agree with looking at the smaller cities, and here are two good examples: first, look at the historic preservation efforts and the university/city relationships of Savannah and SCAD. This is a model we could benefit from. They consider their historic buildings precious and valuable. They intertwine their city and preservation efforts with SCAD, which has campuses all over town.

Also, look at the highly successful tourism efforts of St. Augustine, their visitor counts are soaring. Both Of these cities are good examples. Jacksonville is an old city with traditions and stories abounding - let's sell these as Eco-tourism and park tours.