FARGO — The Jasper Hotel and its Rosewild restaurant are ready to “showcase” the city.
The 125-room boutique hotel at 215 Broadway celebrates its grand opening in the RDO Building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 24.
“Our team is truly capable” of helping guests have an enjoyable Fargo experience, Director of Operations Kylee Brisch said during a recent tour of the hotel. “We’re so proud of Fargo and the region. … It’s easy to showcase Fargo.”
The first guests start checking in at noon Thursday. The bar and lounge opens at 3 p.m. and Rosewild begins serving at 5 p.m.
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Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney is impressed with the newest addition to the city's downtown.
"It's a major, huge step forward," Mahoney said Monday. "Now we have a couple choices people can stay downtown. I think we'll have a lot more people downtown, exploring downtown, exploring Fargo."
The design and décor of the Jasper is meant to be a celebration of the Red River Valley and an homage to its namesake, Jasper B. Chapin, a farmer, hotelier and former mayor who served from 1880 to 1882. He earned the nickname “Father of Fargo” for his contributions to the city’s growth during its initial boom.
The Jasper, part of the Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group , will be in direct competition with the nearby Hotel Donaldson and the neighboring Radisson Blu to attract visitors seeking upscale accommodations.
The Jasper’s take on luxury is grounded in a Scandinavian aesthetic, complemented by expansive views of the city thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows in the outward facing rooms on floors nine through 14 of the 18-story RDO Building.
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“The view is so cool,” Brisch said while looking out over the city from the hotel’s Gardener Suite. “I’d like to be in one of these rooms and watch a storm roll in.”
Similarly, the ground-floor Rosewild restaurant and the lounge and café, with a rustic Nordic-inspired menu, will showcase locally sourced vegetables and game roasted on a wood-fired hearth.
Shelly Gompf, interim CEO of the Downtown Community Partnership, says the Jasper is “just another great opportunity, an option for attracting visitors to eat, play and stay downtown. As well as just a beautiful place” for families to enjoy and businesses and groups to host events.
“It’s a beautiful location. It’s beautiful inside and out and designed” to get guests engaged in the community, Gompf said.
The Jasper’s 125 rooms are needed, said Charley Johnson, president and CEO of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“It will be definitely helpful to have more (hotel) rooms in the downtown area and then the fact that they have a bar and restaurant as well, that helps, too. It’s just another place for people looking for entertainment downtown. It’s a good thing for downtown, I think,” he said.
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“We have historically been a little short of hotel rooms in the downtown area,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we’re overbuilding the downtown area by any stretch at this moment.”
Mahoney said that thanks to RDO's move downtown, other large companies are exploring a move there, too. The Jasper Hotel and Rosewild add to that momentum, he said. "I think we're going to change the face of downtown," the mayor said.
Throughout the Jasper, works by local artists adorn the walls. It’s also seen in the dishware and other pottery by Hayden Swanson of Livin’ The Dream Pottery, dried flowers from Prairie Petals, and tooled-leather door hangers by Kyle and Kristen Jameson of Jameson Leatherworks.
“We really focus on collaborating with local partners, so you know that when you wake up, you’re in Fargo,” Brisch said.
A signature look for Jasper Chapin was wearing bright red bowties, Brisch said. In a nod to Chapin, the Jasper’s employees wear red bowtie-shaped pins.
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The hotel also uses a “Jasper blue” tile in its bathrooms, with blue and gold accents in the rooms. The idea is to evoke the colors of sunsets and prairies, Brisch said.
The Jasper’s Continental Ballroom was named for Chapin’s Continental Hotel and can accommodate more than 250 people. Nearby is the Great Northern boardroom for business training, parties or other events.
The hotel’s fitness center includes two Peloton bikes, Brisch said. And the Jasper is dog friendly, with a $50 one-time pet fee.
The café space in the hotel is run in collaboration with Stumbeano’s Coffee Roasterie, which created a “Jasper Hotel Bowtie Blend” coffee.
The Jasper has hired more than 100 mostly area residents, but there are still positions to fill, Brisch said. Those interested can apply at aparium.com/careers.
