Open Thread #81

A new open thread...ready for business!

Reba and Kelly coming to the Ralph

According to pollstar.com, country superstar Reba McEntire and the original American Idol Kelly Clarkson will bring their "2 Worlds 2 Voices" joint concert tour to Grand Forks this fall. The two will perform at the Ralph Engelstad Arena on October 23.

What would you change?

You may have noticed a few small changes in the appearance of Grand Forks Life. A few of the fonts and colors have been changed and I added a "Recent comments" box. Nothing major here, folks...just a few little changes.

This made me think about the overall design of GFL. I wonder if there is anything that you would change about the blog's appearance if you could? Would you arrange the sidebar differently? Would you change the size of a particular font? Do you think there are too many posts on the main page or not enough? I want your opinions and constructive criticism.

Please keep in mind that I'm no expert at web design so I'm not able to implement anything too groundbreaking here. I am more than happy to make small changes if the community of readers wants them.

This can even go beyond mere appearance to the content of GFL itself. What types of threads do you like the most? What areas should I be focusing on? I think feedback is the best way to know what this blog is doing right and what it is doing wrong.

Milo Smith's new blog

WDAZ's Milo Smith has a new blog, Milo's Turf Tips. The blog is about "the quest for the perfect lawn." Good luck with the lawn and the blog, Milo!

Wonder why Forum Communications didn't make Milo use their AreaVoices blogging platform for his new blog?

New poll: Civic Auditorium choices

Time for a new poll question: "Which Civic Auditorium redevelopment plan do you support?"

Poll results: Brown's chances

Time to close the poll question "Would you support Michael Brown for a third term as GF mayor?" (results)

Selection		Votes
Yes	50%	99
No	41%	82
Undecided	9%	17
198 votes total

What do you think of the results?

President Kelly's new digs

Here's a first look at what the new University of North Dakota President's House will look like when completed later this year. UND's new President, Robert Kelly, and his wife will be the home's first inhabitants. The new house is being built on roughly the same spot as the old presidential house. A new Alumni Center will be built adjacent to the house in the near future.

Open Thread #80

It's a new week and I'm sure you have plenty to talk about.

Mooddyz Bar and Casino

A new business by the name of Mooddyz Bar and Casino may soon open in the former Westward Ho building. Currently, the only business in the former entertainment complex is the Northside Cafe.

The bar's request for a liquor license has been at least temporarily denied due to the way in which one of the potential owners answered the question "Have you ever been convicted of any crime, in this or in any other state, or under Federal Law?" in the liquor license paperwork.

In the paperwork, the man reported a 1979 arrest for marijuana possession, but according to the Grand Forks Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau, he failed to report several other crimes. These include a 1998 arrest and conviction for DUI, a 2005 arrest and conviction for reckless driving, and a 2005 arrest and conviction for harassment.

Mooddyz is appealing the liquor license application denial at this evening's Service and Safety Standby Committee. Check out the meeting packet which contains all of this and more information.

Plans for "new downtown"

A year has passed since I first shared my vision for a "bigger and better" downtown Grand Forks. To sum up my proposal, I think the current geographic size of downtown Grand Forks is too small for a city of our size and much too small for the city I think we will become in the next few decades.

In my earlier post, I proposed an expansion of downtown to the west. Now comes word that Grand Forks city staff and JLG Architects have been working on a plan to expand downtown in the very direction that I was talking about. Check out Ryan Schuster's great blog post about these plans. I'm not foolish enough to think that my earlier plan was the inspiration for this new plan, but I am very pleased to see a plan very similar to my own presented to our elected officials, the media, and to the citizens.

My earlier plan

The new plan

I'm very excited to see bold plans like this put forth. I think this is both a doable project and a necessary project. Downtown Grand Forks has plenty going for it these days...some of us just think that making downtown bigger might also make it a whole lot better. What do you think?

Open Thread #79

Here's a new open thread for the weekend, kids.

Have fun at Springfest if you go...but leave the fiery couches at home, please.

GF Dining Thread #1

Nothing gets you guys talking more than a discussion of the local dining scene. Why not start up a special category of threads akin to the "open threads" that you're all familar with? I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

Here's a chance for you to share your opinions of the local dining scene. Perhaps you would like to review a particular restaurant? Maybe you have an interesting tidbit of restaurant-related news or gossip that other readers would like to hear?

Go ahead...pretend that you're Marilyn Hagerty.

A hole in the heart

With all this talk about downtown construction, I'm thinking of places in the downtown district that could someday soon be the site of new developments.

We've been hearing about the potential redevelopment of the Civic Auditorium site. That site, located on the western fringe of downtown, could help to push the boundaries of what we consider to be downtown. I'm all for that - I've talked extensively about our need to "expand" downtown both up and out.

Another potential development site comes to mind...except this one is not located in the fringes, but in the very heart of downtown. The corner of Demers Avenue and 4th Street has always been a very important intersection downtown and the post-flood construction of the Corporate Center and the renovation of the old First National Bank Building - now dubbed 322 Demers - has further reinforced that particular intersection's prominence.

Still, that corner is not as built-up as it could be. Two of the corners are anchored by the Corporate Center and 322 Demers takes up a third corner, but the fourth corner is still vacant more than a decade after post-flood cleanup saw the demolition of the lot's previous occupant.

Empty lot in the heart of downtown
If memory serves me correctly, the current owner of the 322 Demers building once owned the empty lot in question. I'm not sure if that is still the case. Either way, perhaps the time has come for the redevelopment of this empty lot - this "hole" in the heart of Grand Forks.

So I'm asking you, my readers, what would you like to see built on this lot. Would you like to see another commercial building on this intersection? How about yet another residential building for downtown? Perhaps condos instead of apartments so the building could be built higher? How about a mixed-use building? Would you like to see new skyways built to connect the new building to the existing buildings and thus create a loop around the busy intersection?

Let's brainstorm.

Laffen explains issues with taller buildings

Downtown Grand Forks has become a fairly vibrant district in the last couple of years. There are new restaurants, bars, and new housing developments. Indeed, housing downtown seems to have become a very hot commodity. Recently, the Metropolitan Opera House building was converted into the Opera House Lofts and new construction took place in the form of the Elite Brownstones condominium development and The Current Apartments. However, some readers of this blog have questioned why these new buildings weren't built taller. If there is such demand for housing downtown, why not build up instead of just out?

According to prominent local architect Lonnie Laffen of JLG Architects, the reason why we aren't seeing taller buildings downtown essentially boils down to the higher costs that such buildings require. Most of the new housing recently built and currently planned for downtown is in the form of apartments and, as Laffen puts it, "The rents that apartments can support dictate wood frame construction. Wood frame can only go four stories due to shrinkage. After four stories the overall shrinkage gets to be too high and difficult to manage." Also, Laffen says that "Once you go over five [stories] you need pilings for the foundation which is very expensive."

However, Laffen doesn't rule out taller buildings: "I agree that it would be fun to do a higher structure. It would have to be condos because they command more money per square foot to support more expensive construction required to do multi-story. I know there is a great demand for a product like this. I think we are ready but I need to find the right developer."

So now we have a better idea of why taller buildings haven't been constructed so far in this recent period of downtown construction. Most of the new construction has been in the form of housing and as Laffen has explained, typical apartment rents simply are not able to bring in the kind of money needed to go beyond the four or five story height.

Perhaps if interest in downtown continues, we will see the development of taller condo developments or even taller commercial buildings. Here's another thought - if apartments on their own can't support a taller building, how about a mix of apartments, condos, and commercial space in the same building? What do you readers think? Would you like to see taller buildings rising from the downtown skyline in the near future?

Open Thread #78

160+ freakin' comments in just a few days?!? You guys are nuts.

So...will this one be about the weather, hate crimes, restaurants, or grammar?

Just be nice, people.