The Chamber of Commerce plans to move out of its wing of the Hjemkomst Center at the end of its lease. Under discussion is a new building next to the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau at I-94 and 45th Street in Fargo. (Photo/Russ Hanson.)
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
After 22 years in the Hjemkomst Center, the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber of Commerce has announced preliminary plans to build a new headquarters at the corner of Interstate 94 and 45th Street in Fargo.
The Chamber’s 25-year lease on its custom-built wing in the Hjemkomst in 1999 expires in March 2024. On Monday, the Fargo City Commission voted 4-1 to direct city employees to look into drafting a lease agreement that would permit the chamber to build its facility on city-owned land near the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The organization, which has nearly 1,900 business members in the F-M metro area, has been considering a move since March, citing a need for more space in a freestanding locations to accommodate its growing staff and programs. Its current site – built expressly to house it in 1999 – encompasses 4,722 square feet in a wing extending to the east of the original Hjemkomst Center. The new plan under discussion envisions a space three times that size.
In a news release Monday, the Chamber cited its vision for creating a news space that is “forward-thinking, solution-based and can serve multiple purposes.” Among them: A “Business Resource Hub which will be a physical space for business growth and collaboration; a collaboration/innovation space where aligned-mission organizations can co-exist (examples include EDC, SBA, SBDC, NDWBA, SCORE, etc.); and a collaboration/innovation space for growing companies – co-working, makers space, etc.”
According to Moorhead Parks and Recreation director Holly Heitkamp, who manages the center, leaders of the Chamber have been open about their plans, seeking first to obtain more space at the Hjemkomst. However, the manner in which the center was originally financed precluded any talk of expansion. The Hjemkomst was built in the late 1980s using state bonding funds, she said. That limits potential tenants to nonprofit organizations. As a membership organization, the Chamber doesn’t fit that requirement, even if space could have been found there.
“The Chamber is just out of space,” she said. “They have kept us in the loop every step of the way.”
The office wing the group now occupies was added to the original structure in 1999 as an informal part of the negotiations to merge the Fargo Chamber of Commerce with its Moorhead counterpart. The construction project was funded through proceeds of the 25-year lease, now in its final renewal. The construction was financed through the rent paid by the Chamber, now pegged at $46,228 per year, or $9.79 per square foot.
Discussion of future uses for the area the Chamber will eventually vacate lie well in the future, Heitkamp notes. “Their plans are still up in the air. If they do move ahead on a new building, that’s a process that will take some time.”
