Luxury condos coming to Kings Walk

A new "luxury condo" development is coming to the south side of the Kings Walk Golf Course in southern Grand Forks. The building will be built just off of 62nd Avenue South roughly halfway between South Washington Street and Columbia Road. The condos will be 3 1/2 stories high and include underground parking.

New strip mall coming to EGF

East Grand Forks will soon be home to a new strip mall. The mall will be built directly west of Hugo's on 14th Street NE. The mall will offer around five spaces ranging in sizes from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet.

What types of businesses would you like to see locate in this new strip mall? What stores or restaurants should take a look at adding a location in East Grand Forks?

GF Dining Thread #4

We haven't had a dining thread since last October so I really think one is in order. This is the place for restaurant reviews, discussion of restaurant comings and goings, and the types of restaurants and cuisines you would like to see in Grand Forks. In other words...time to be a better Marilyn Hagerty than Marilyn Hagerty. (We love you Marilyn.)

There have been plenty of changes lately in the local dining scene. Space Aliens recently opened in the building that formerly housed Bostons. Have you tried them yet? If so, share your reviews of the food, service, atmosphere, prices, etc. The Royal Fork has closed down after being a fixture in the Columbia Mall for around a quarter of a century. Do you miss it? Is the Golden Corral a decent replacement for the Royal Fork? Suite 49 also shut down recently after only a few years in business. Why did they fail? What type of restaurant should go into that building, in your opinion? How about Mama Maria's? They've reopened at a new location in East Grand Forks' Riverwalk Center. Is their food the same quality and/or value that it used to be when the restaurant was in Grand Forks? What's up with the old Dagwoods/Overtime Bar and Grill building? The windows have been boarded up lately. Is a new restaurant on the way?

Let's have fun with this, kids.

New University Village housing complex

 

Here's a sneak peek at the newest housing complex on the University of North Dakota campus.  The rendering above is of "Hamline Square" which is currently under construction just east of the Ralph Engelstad Arena in the University Village neighborhood.  Hamline Square is a pair of apartment buildings with studio, two, three, and four bedroom units.  The complex will feature underground parking.  Tentative rates range from $425 to $1300.  The buildings are set to open on August 1 of this year.

Grand Forks Guy is on Facebook

I'm now on Facebook and I would like to be your friend.

Check out my profile. :)

Changes at the mall

Several stores at Grand Forks' Columbia Mall have moved into new spaces or are preparing to do so.

Both Maurices and Victoria's Secret will be getting new spaces in the mall and have moved to temporary locations to prepare for the final move.  Victoria's Secret recently moved to a temporary location in the old Target wing of the mall and, in the near future, will move to the former Maurice's space which is being remodeled for the lingerie retailer.  Maurices has also moved to a temporary location in the Target wing in preparation for a move to their new location.

Tradehome Shoes is moving to the former Scott's Music space near Center Court.  Meanwhile, Scott's has moved to a larger location in the Sears wing.  The new Scott's brings together under one roof the Scott's retail store and also the "fine arts studio" formerly located downtown.  Lastly, SportsZone recently moved from Center Court to a larger space in the JC Penney wing.

Could this shuffling around of stores and remodeling of store spaces be connected to GK Development's longterm plans for the mall?  Have you heard about any other upcoming changes at Columbia Mall?

"State of the City" or "About that Monorail..."

On Monday, Mayor Michael Brown will deliver his most recent installment of the annual "State of the City" address.  Read Tu-Uyen Tran's Herald article here.

Brown usually uses the speech to brag about several accomplishments of the past year and to introduce a couple of new proposals.  I'm very interested to hear more about two of the proposals that Tran hints at in his article.

Both projects seem to involve the Alerus Center and its surroundings.  One proposal is to develop 42nd Street into a "Destination Corridor."  Nothing too new here, but I will be interested to see if Brown has any specific ideas that haven't been brought up before.  This is something that the Alerus Center's new director Steven Hyman is pushing for.  I'll be excited to see what Brown and Hyman can dream up over time.

The other proposal is a "transportation-related project" that would apparently link the Alerus Center to the Ralph Engelstad Arena.  WHAT?  ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THAT MONORAIL?  That would be uber-cool!

Maybe that whole "New Horizons" plan didn't vanish into thin air like I thought it had...

UPDATE - 2/23/2009 - 5:00 PM
In the words of Tu-Uyen, it IS a monorail.  Read the actual 2009 State of the City address here.

B&N's time at UND coming to a close

In a little over a month, Barnes and Noble will no longer be a presence on the UND campus. As of April 1, B&N will relinquish management of the University Bookstore to Follett Higher Education Group. Follett is the nation's largest campus bookstore management company with more than 750 stores under their umbrella.

B&N's 10 year history at UND appears to have been, at times, inconsistent with what the campus and the community have desired in a bookstore like this. Many (including me!) have complained about their limited hours which seem to only get more limited with every passing year. Also, students and professors alike seem to have some very strong feelings about Barnes and Noble.

I think the store is very attractive...few campuses have a nicer looking bookstore. I have also enjoyed shopping in the store's general merchandise section over the years. Still, even that is a bit lacking when you compare it with the titles and selection that a traditional Barnes and Noble would carry.

I still don't believe that the Barnes and Noble group is going to be satisfied with having absolutely no presence in a metropolitan area of around 100,000 people. I see a south-side store coming in the not-to-distant future...what about you?

So what will Follett bring to the UND campus when it arrives this spring? What do YOU want it to bring?

I'm sure many people would like to see longer hours. The closest Follett-managed campus bookstore is at St. Cloud State University. Check out their hours here. The latest they stay open is 6...no difference there when compared with B&N's current closing time.

Tell us what you would hope to see at the UND Bookstore come this April. WIll you miss B&N?  Are you excited about Follett?

Where those new railyards could go

So, if we did have millions of dollars just sitting somewhere...or maybe if we were God...where would we reroute those railroad tracks and just where would we put those new railyards? I'm thinking rerouting the lines north of town would be the most logical. Below is a little map I put together showing two possible routes that I came up with. The colored lines are the tracks and the squares show potential sites for the railyards. What do you think?

Open Thread #102

I think we could use a fresh open thread...don't you agree?  What's on your mind?  Hear anything interesting lately?