​Has Gentrification Come to Downtown Fargo?

As Fargo continues to experience major growth and redevelopment in its downtown region, some are concerned that it has a ripple effect resulting in gentrification. It is an issue being discussed more and more across the country as cities experience continued years of rapid growth.

Major cities like Austin and San Francisco are experiencing extreme gentrification currently where tech firms have settled in. Developers build condos, raise rent, and force out long-time residents, restaurants and music venues. Minneapolis in recent years has been named as having one of the largest gentrification trends in the nation. One need only look at downtown Minneapolis now, and at what inhabited it 20 to 30 years ago: more ma and pa unique shops versus corporate chains like Target. It’s vastly different.

Is Fargo headed that way too? There’s no question rent has been steadily rising Downtown and elsewhere (both commercial and residential); it obviously is a tremendously different-looking downtown than even five years ago. There is much development to come in the years ahead, with buildings being acquired at a rapid pace, in particular by developer Doug Burgum. He has bought so many buildings in recent years, it is almost hard to keep track.

“I am concerned. Downtown used to have many lower-cost housing options. The success of the revitalization of downtown is reducing those options. Most new developments include higher-cost housing than [what] we lose. It will have to be a focus in the future,” said Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn.

So what is gentrification? It’s defined as the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values, but often displacing low-income families and small businesses. While Fargo is growing, some feel it is mainly a problem for larger metropolitan cities with populations of over a million people.

Lynn Fundingsland, executive director of the Fargo Housing and Redevelopment Authority, told HPR earlier this month that the city may have to sell the Fargo High Rise, a low income housing tower for the elderly and disabled located in downtown Fargo, because the building needs extensive repairs that are too costly to be financed with existing local and federal resources.

“At some point, the 48-year-old water and sewer lines will fail and if it gets to that point then the building would be uninhabitable. For several years we have been trying to find a way to either repair or replace it,” Fundingsland said.

Selling the Fargo High Rise building would require federal approval. Proceeds from the sale would be used to move displaced residents potentially to other areas of the city. The Fargo Forum reported that there has been a developer interested in the site.

“If the high rise is no longer useable, we should try to keep that population in downtown. It is near medical care facilities and many services are nearby,” Commissioner Piepkorn told HPR.

So how do you stop gentrification? It seems to be happening unencumbered at major cities across the U.S. experiencing major growth. Austin, Texas, known as the live music capital of the world, has talked about creating art or music zones after developers forced venues to either close or move due to rising rent prices. The areas would be protected from rapid rises in rent, and designated city blocks devoted to live music.

Some cities have rent control where local governments regulate the amounts charged for rented housing. Tenants with rent control can only be given rent increases based on what the law allows. Commissioner Piepkorn has some ideas on what Fargo can do to protect itself from gentrification in the future.

“When developers propose a new project, require a percentage of new housing to be affordable. The loss of the High Rise would be a huge loss and should be replaced somewhere downtown,” he said.

HPR did reach out to some downtown Fargo developers for their views on gentrification in the city but they did not respond by press time. The consensus among city officials seems to be that gentrification is not yet here in full force, but something to keep an eye on in the future as rapid growth