Redevelopment of old Grand Forks water treatment plant hopes to be anchor for growth in downtown – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS – Jill Proctor, president of the Grand Forks Downtown Development Association, hopes the redevelopment of the old water treatment plant will serve as a catalyst for future development of the south downtown area.

“This could be a significant project and there’s a lot of excitement coming up,” Proctor said at an event earlier this week at Olive Ann. “What’s most exciting for the entire team is all the development that’s taken place. I mean, we’re about to have one of the most exciting ones yet.”

Proctor and the DDA held a social event Tuesday that brought together downtown businesses, residents and community members at the Olive Ann Hotel, one of the newest developments in downtown Grand Forks. The event was part of the city’s initiative to redevelop the old wastewater treatment plant downtown and bring local stakeholders together with consultants.

For more than 120 years, a water treatment plant has stood at Third Street South and Minnesota Avenue. Now that the city’s water treatment plants have moved to a new facility on the far west side of Grand Forks, off DeMers Avenue, in 2021, the city is exploring what redevelopment of the 1.5-block site will look like.

The consulting firm the city is working with is St. Louis-based Development Strategies, which is working on a plan for the site. Development Strategies will not only be working on a plan for what the site could be, but also the future of the entire surrounding area.

“We’re also very interested in exploring the relationship with the river and the views of it and we think there are some really exciting opportunities to explore that,” Matt Wetli of Development Strategies told the Grand Forks City Council on Monday. “There’s a desire to create a lasting legacy for this site.”

The old wastewater treatment plant is located on the first city block of the Point Bridge in Grand Forks. Stakeholders at Tuesday’s social event said they hope redevelopment will stimulate and spread growth to that part of downtown. There’s also a desire to reconnect the area to the split between the Red and Red Lake Rivers — from which the city gets its name — and the Greenway. Much of the recent development in downtown Grand Forks has occurred between Kittson and University Avenues, such as the Olive Ann Hotel and Franklin on Fourth projects, and in the southern portions of downtown near the Point Bridge and Minnesota Avenues.

“Think about how much more of the core of Grand Forks we could have,” said Justin Carney of Development Strategies. “How can we think about the history of the site and create a legacy that speaks to the future of Grand Forks?”

Development Strategies’ timeline is to have a plan in place within nine to ten months. The ultimate goal is to provide information to prepare a request for proposal for a developer for the site. After that, there will likely be some sort of demolition or renovation of the old sewage plant. The city hasn’t done much with the building yet, as it’s waiting to see what needs to be demolished before it can move forward.

“We’ll get a lot of the questions answered that you would ask a developer (request for proposal or qualifications) and say ‘we’re ready to hear from the development community,’” Carvey said. “You’ll get a sense of what the opportunities are in the immediate area and then how it ties into the city center.”

Voigt writes about government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.