Planning Commission approves 'Cove' PUD to convert 40 Fifth Street complex to mixed residential and innovation hub

The Fargo Planning Commission on Sept. 4 approved a planned unit development master plan, rezoning and minor subdivision to redevelop the 40 Fifth Street site into a mixed residential and innovation campus called Cove. The action cleared the project to proceed to future final PUD plans and permit review.

The proposal, presented by planning staff and the applicant team, would adapt an existing large office structure and add a new front-building addition of up to 85 feet in height that would contain predominantly residential units, with supporting commercial and innovation-oriented uses in the rehabilitated existing building. Megan Alsaug, a planner with the City of Fargo Planning and Development Department, told the commission the master plan anticipates roughly 225 residential units and about 200,000 square feet of innovation-oriented uses; the applicant said that number could rise to about 250 units as plans are refined.

The project team described residential unit mix and parking assumptions that…