Minot Daily News
SPOTLIGHT ON PROPERTIES
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2021 MinotDailyNews.com • Facebook • Twitter
Your Downtown
City looks to build up downtown Minot By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com n striving for a more vibrant downtown, Minot leaders are looking to spruce up buildings, create more options for underutilized buildings and find new uses for properties that Trinity Health eventually will no longer need. City government should have a role in ensuring these changes happen, said Minot City Council member Paul Pitner. The city needs to promote loan and grant tools already available and then consider whether the city should also invest, as it did in replacing downtown infrastructure a few years ago, he said. “We can’t just sit there and wait for something to happen. We have to take an active role,” Pitner said. A downtown building will be undergoing renovation with city investment. The city purchased the former Wells Fargo bank building for $2.6 million for a new city hall. The city has hired an architect, who is conducting a space analysis and designing floor plans. The city also has tasked its economic developer, Jonathan Rosenthal, with spearheading implementation of community recommendations related to downtown development. Rosenthal said initial projects could move forward once funding is identified. One proposal is to create a forgivable loan program for downtown property owners to encourage and support renovations to their buildings’ facades. Rosenthal said the renovations should preserve the historic features of the buildings and the original architectural intent. In working with the Downtown Business & Professional Association, the city’s approach has been to design a program that supports renovation of the entirety of a building’s facade and not just the lower, street level face of the structure. A program also would require that a building’s roof be in good shape and the building be fully secured, such as eliminating any windows that have gaps allowing pigeon entry. “A facade program is a wonderful opportunity to regain some of that original historic architectural intent,”said Josh Wolsky, interim director for the Downtown Business &
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Professional Association. “Those buildings are a particular challenge for the owners. There are significant new code requirements that have gone into place, which make renovations and improvements considerably more complicated than other projects.” Brain Billingsley, the city’s director of Community Development, said property owners would be expected to have some level of financial stake in the improvements. Minot Mayor Shaun Sipma said investing city dollars in such projects would be difficult at this time. “We are running too many big projects to basically try to solve all the problems ourselves on the tax dollars,” he said. Rather, he said, the city needs to highlight every opportunity for redevelopment and remain business-friendly to help with that process. Although the improvements might not directly translate to increased business income, there could be savings with any accompanying energy efficiencies. Property owners also could see new revenue if efforts to incentivize use of under-utilized buildings comes to fruition. Rosenthal said the city is working with private banks on a potential revolving loan fund for property owners interested in turning vacant upper levels of their buildings into housing. He said there are many buildings with only first-floor occupancy.
Jill Schramm/MDN
TOP: Main Street has attracted entrepreneurs but the City of Minot wants to encourage increased vitality, starting with its own investment in the former Wells Fargo building, at left, for a new downtown city hall.
File Photo
BOTTOM: Trinity Hospital is one of the properties to be vacated when the health system completes and moves into a new facility in southwest Minot, projected to occur in 2023. A committee will be looking into the future of Trinity’s vacated downtown buildings.
INVESTING IN DOWNTOWN See DOWNTOWN — Page 2
By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
olfers will want to check out a new restaurant and bar coming to downtown Minot this fall. Construction is starting this spring to renovate a downtown Minot building for Whiskey Nine, a golf-themed establishment to be located at 111 W. Central Ave. The business will have golf simulation equipment and will be starting golf leagues to run in the winter. Opening is tentatively set for Oct. 1, according to the business partners. Kevin and Kalli Black with Creedence Energy Services, Andrew and McKenna Gudmunson with 701 Realty, Jeremy Mahany with The Starving Rooster and Jason Sanders with Rolac Construction are the partners. Black said there’s been interest in the Minot region in a golfthemed establishment similar to others that have been appearing in the state’s larger cities. He said the goal is to appeal to all types of golfers but also to people who have never golfed but are interested.
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Jill Schramm/MDN
A seating area in the new Creedence Energy Services offices in downtown Minot takes advantage of a historic window feature. “This is a place where you can come and have fun and enjoy the simulator,” he said. “Obviously, there’s a whiskey theme throughout the whole place. There will be a lot of whisky-infused flavors in foods as well, and what I’m guessing will be one of Minot’s better selections on whiskeys.”
Andrew Gudmunson said the local restaurant will have a broad menu, with snack items, appetizers and sandwiches as well as a dinner menu with steaks and seafood. The owners plan to gut the building to give it an interior upgrade. The building will receive a new facade and upgrades on
windows and other elements. “We’re going to be returning the facade of the building to much more of a traditional look,” Black said. “It’s going to be much more an English pub style architecture with a lot of nice wood trim features.” Gudmunson said it will have the combined feel of an old golf
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Entrepreneurs see opportunity in rehabbed buildings clubhouse and speakeasy. The project is located in Minot’s Renaissance and Opportunity zones, which provide some tax advantages. The Opportunity Zone eligibility aided in the building purchase, and Renaissance Zone assistance is being sought on the improvements. The owners also have worked with Souris Basin Planning Council and its business assistance programs. Both the Gudmunsons and Blacks are completing other downtown building projects. Finishing touches have been going into the Gudmunsons’ 701 Realty at 24 1st St. NE. The company has offices on the main floor of the former warehouse, with office space on a lower level to expand. A portion of the building used for apartments will remain in use. Creedence Energy has moved into the completed second floor of the renovated building at 21 E. Central Ave. Black said the third floor should be completed by the end of this month to accommodate Companions for Children and Cory Garber Photography. An additional 2,400 square feet remains available on that floor.
The first floor could be completed by early summer. On the north side, an axe-throwing bar called Up Your Axe will be taking up residency. “It will be, again, another one of those things that other major cities in North Dakota have. We do not. So you’ll be able to hone in on your axe-throwing skills,” Black said. Dakota Burger Company will move into the south half of the first floor this summer. The business started with a food truck and has been evolving, Black said. It will be evolving again in the new location with a new brand, new menu and new name, to be announced. “We hope more and more entrepreneurs will take the risk and people will put up the capital investment to invest and to bring new ideas downtown,” Black said. “There’s a lot of really great economic tools out there, whether it is the Renaissance Zone, Opportunity Zone, Souris Basin Planning Council. There’s a whole host of financial tools that people can tap into, and the more people know about it, I think the more attractive those investments are.”