MOORHEAD — Added height was approved for a new four-story apartment building in south Moorhead near Interstate 94 and west of Eighth Street by the Moorhead City Council on Monday night, May 8.
Already the walls have been coming down at the long-vacant Moorhead Days Inn and former Courtney’s Comedy Club to make way for the 204-unit apartment complex. It will be 52 feet at its highest point, which was above the 45-foot limit in city zoning.
Council member Deb White said she was happy to see that West Fargo-based Enclave Companies is working with neighbors to address concerns, including a church just to the north.
Landscaping is planned for land adjacent to the two structures to "activate the area," Enclave's Brian Bochman told The Forum after the meeting.
Bochman added that in "trying to be a good neighbor" they have also added sidewalks around the new structure as a goodwill gesture.
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He said neighbors have commented that it "looks better already" with the old vacant building coming down.
He also told The Forum after the meeting that the project, called the Compass Apartments, will cost about $32.4 million at the site at 600 30th Ave. S.
Enclave is also revitalizing another nearby area east of Eighth Street with a new apartment building and reviving an old strip mall next to it.
Construction on the Compass Apartments is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2023, according to documents tied to a Tax Increment Financing district that is being used to help finance the project.
The former hotel was built in 1970 as a convention center and has been vacant since 2017. Planning Commission documents indicate the vacant building has been the site of police disturbances in the past, and redevelopment of the building proved challenging for previous owners.
Enclave acquired the property at auction. Demolition at the site began in mid-April and Bochman said they will start construction on the new building in June.