Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber Of Commerce: The Chamber To Select New Building Location

Press release from the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce:

November 1, 2021

The Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber has been in operation as a merged organization since 1998 and has been located in Moorhead, MN, in the Hjemkomst Center, since that time. Through the years, The Chamber has played a critical role in the growth and prosperity of this region. With over 1,980 members now, The Chamber continues to grow and is a catalyst for growth and prosperity for businesses, individuals and the region as a whole.

In order to respond to the increasing demands and opportunities, The Chamber is seeking new building space for expansion. The Chamber’s Board of Directors has been undergoing a significant due diligence process including exploration of the expansion of our current site in Moorhead, a formal RFP to the community and Chamber members for new opportunities, and a formal overlay of our current membership base to identify growth and trends in the region.

The Chamber has had a strong, positive relationship with the City of Moorhead through our presence at the Hjemkomst Center. We appreciate the support we have received, and as a first step in the process, we explored every opportunity to expand at our current site in Moorhead. However, there were numerous barriers that would not allow for expansion; therefore, a formal RFP was submitted to membership and the community.

The Board of Directors has assembled a list of priorities that were included in the formal RFP.

Chamber building priorities:

1) Vision
a. Create a new space that is forward-thinking, solution-based and can serve multiple purposes including:

• 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.)
• A collaboration/innovation space for growing companies – co-working, makers space, etc.

2) Financial
a. Buy/Build not Lease – allows for utilization of the proceeds from the sale of the previous building, allows for The Chamber to have a similar monthly outlay of cash as our current scenario

3) Location
a. Centralized to member base – membership overlay document
b. Ease of access - Parking, easy to navigate

4) Size
a. Enough space to accommodate future growth
b. 10,000-15,000 sq ft (includes programming space for up to 100)
c. Offices and board room, conference rooms, collaboration space

5) Timing
a. Sense of urgency as current space is not conducive to current or future needs
b. Ideal construction to begin Spring 2022 with a one-year construction cycle

6) Visibility
a. Strong visibility to our members, other businesses and the public

Of the 21 responses to the RFP, the proposal to co-locate on the same property as the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) best reflected the creative nature of the project and alignment with The Chamber priorities.

The CVB Board of Directors supports the project and looks forward to the synergy this will create. You will find their letter of support here.

This press release was produced by the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.