Fargo committee narrows convention center program: 50,000‑sq.-ft. main room, large catering kitchen and liquor‑license questions

Charlie, a Visit Fargo Moorhead staffer, opened the meeting by outlining next steps for the convention center planning process and said the group would post comparison renderings and planning documents on the Visit Fargo Moorhead website.

The committee’s substantive debate focused on the size and flexibility of the main event space and on whether to include a fully functional on‑site catering kitchen and how liquor‑license arrangements could be structured to affect hotel developer bids and long‑term revenue.

Members said they want a large, divisible main room; several participants cited a target of about 50,000 square feet, with 40,000 as a lower bound. Charlie said the group has “been pretty regular in saying … we need a big room that’s hopefully 50,000 square feet, certainly at least 40,000 plus, that could be dividable in two.” Proponents argued a single large divisible space would allow both ballroom and exhibit uses and make the building more flexible for concerts and sporting events.

Ken Kolstad, President of LiveWire, cautioned against a permanent proscenium stage, describing the Minneapolis facility’s built‑in stage as “a theatrical proscenium stage … very permanent in nature” and saying a permanent stage limits layout customization. Multiple speakers favored portable staging and strong ceiling rigging and power so clients and producers can configure the room as needed.

Catering kitchen size and equipment dominated the second half of the discussion. Dan Herter, who runs three regional catering brands, said existing local kitchens range from about 1,500 to 1,800 square feet and estimated that a convention‑center kitchen sized to serve very large events “would land” somewhere around 9,000 to 13,000 square feet. He added, “I would argue that we are one of the larger caterers in the region … but I don't know that there's anybody that's equipped to actually cook for 4,000 people” without dedicated on‑site kitchen capacity.

Committee members and caterers discussed alternatives: (1) an on‑site, fully functional prep kitchen with ovens, steamers and mixers; (2) a smaller kitchen for staging and warming with food brought in by vendors; or (3) an in‑house operator (for example, a hotel or contracted operator) that would manage food service. Jake Hughes, a local caterer, said transport logistics and inventory needs make on‑site plates, glassware and storage strongly preferred: “Most venues that we work with have the plates to silverware on‑site. Just transport alone is very difficult.”

Speakers emphasized storage as a recurring operational constraint in current Fargo‑area venues: multiple participants said a convention facility should include dedicated, sizable storage for service inventory, chafing dishes, staging cases and tables and for caterers’ equipment. One rule‑of‑thumb referenced for prefunction/circulation space was 20–30 percent of total public space, and the group noted restrooms, back‑of‑house corridors and fire‑access routes add built area that must be funded and heated even though some of that area is not classed as rentable meeting space.

Liquor licensing and how beverage revenues would be handled attracted repeated attention. Susan Thompson of the City of Fargo finance staff and other participants noted the city cannot itself hold a liquor license; caterers described using event permits when a venue lacks a license. The group discussed models used elsewhere: exclusive hotel operator, preferred‑vendor lists with venue fees, or a management contract that channels revenue through the center. As one participant put it, the liquor‑license arrangement “will be a significant financial piece of the puzzle” for hotel and catering bids.

Committee staff said they will leave some program elements open in the forthcoming RFP so proposals can present different operating models (hotel‑connected food and beverage, preferred vendor lists, in‑house management). Jim Gilmore (Fargo staff) was reported to be drafting the RFP; members asked staff to include size guidelines (main room, breakout room totals, prefunction and storage) so respondents can prepare comparable proposals.

Other next steps recorded during the meeting: publish comp‑set renderings and documents on the Visit Fargo Moorhead convention‑center landing page; share the email from a local promoter describing demand for 2,500–3,000‑person concert events; share sample catering/venue models used in Boston, Nashville and Washington, D.C.; and schedule site visits to St. Cloud and Rochester—committee members discussed the week of March 24 as a target window for a one‑night, two‑day trip to review operator practices and layout decisions.

No formal votes or motions were recorded during this meeting. Several participants asked staff to compile a developer distribution list for the RFP and noted that the Economic Development Incentive Committee planned to discuss hotel/property‑tax capture and incentives (an item identified for an upcoming meeting) that could affect how a hotel bidder structures a proposal.

The meeting ended with staff assignments to continue RFP drafting, gather comparative floor plans and storage/back‑of‑house breakdowns from peer venues, and to circulate contact information for a kitchen designer and for venue operators consulted at the Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference.

The committee will revisit the kitchen and main‑room program as RFP responses and site‑visit findings are collected.