Fargo Dome Authority outlines convention center, hotel plan and budget update to Cass County commissioners

FARGO — Representatives from the Fargo Dome Authority told the Cass County Commission they expect a near break-even year for operations and presented a concept for a convention center attached to the Fargo Dome that would include a 150–200 room hotel on land leased from North Dakota State University.

The authority’s midyear financial summary showed 47 events through June 30 with about 183,000 total attendees and year-to-date event income of $1,454,000 versus a budgeted $1,500,000. ‘‘So far we've had 47 actual events. Attendance has been about 183,000, which is slightly below budget,’’ Rick Steen, a member of the Fargo Dome Authority board, told commissioners. He said other income was about $964,000 and noted indirect expenses of $2,000,569 led to a year-to-date net loss of $150,873 compared with a budgeted net loss of $128,496.

Why it matters: the authority says fall is the busy season and that its longer-term finances lean on two pools of resources — operating cash the Dome keeps for near-term capital needs and a separate permanent fund invested under the city’s investment policies. ‘‘The Fargo Dome does carry about $7,000,000 of cash,’’ Steen said. He also reported the Dome Permanent Fund’s investments at about $44,427,000 as of the latest data available.

Proposal and scope: Steen presented a conceptual proposal developed with design firms RLE and Perkins and Will and financial advisers Marquette Advisors. The plan ties a roughly 50,000-square-foot ballroom and exhibition hall to the Dome’s existing spaces, adding prefunction and meeting rooms and creating roughly 150,000 square feet of additional usable exhibition and concourse space when the campus is combined. Steen said the design team envisions about 160 hotel rooms in the attached lodging and roughly 100,000 square feet of retail/entertainment/restaurant space in a courtyard area east of the center.

Cost and funding: The presentation included a ballpark construction estimate for the convention center in the ‘‘$35 million to $50 million’’ range, depending on final scope. Steen explained that part of the work — notably the concourse and certain attachments to the Dome — would be paid using the Dome’s permanent fund equity, while the hotel and private retail would be privately financed by developers. ‘‘The lodging tax — that’s the 3% — that pays for the $40,000,000. That’ll be funded, that’ll be debt, and then the lodging tax pays for the debt over a period of time,’’ Steen said, discussing how debt service would be structured against projected lodging-tax revenues.

Site and partners: The authority’s materials note that the Dome site is leased from North Dakota State University and that NDSU and the NDSU Foundation would be partners in approving and accommodating the hotel and adjacent development. Local firms referenced in the proposal included Brandt Hospitality as a potential hotel manager and Charles Anderson as a construction contractor; Marquette Advisors was listed for capital advisory services.

Questions from commissioners: Commissioners asked about transit access, parking and accessibility upgrades. Steen said transportation and bus stops were addressed in the proposal and that the team had talked to NDSU about swapping or accessing additional lots to replace parking lost to the project footprint. On accessibility upgrades, Steen said some ADA and other improvements to the Dome would be funded from the permanent fund and could be coordinated with construction on the new center.

Next steps: Steen said proposers would meet with the city subcommittee over several Fridays for question-and-answer sessions, after which the subcommittee would narrow and rank proposals. ‘‘We’ll be having meetings starting this Friday…they’re going to break up the groups…and from that they’re gonna be making their decisions,’’ he said. The authority did not present any formal request for immediate action by the Cass County Commission.

Context and limits: Steen emphasized the site is leased land and that NDSU would need to amend its lease for some phases. He also noted that the Dome Authority is a city entity and therefore must follow city procurement rules for consultant engagement. Commissioners did not take a formal vote on funding or site selection during the meeting.

Taper: The authority will continue to brief the city review committee and to answer questions from the subcommittee as proposals are narrowed; no county obligation or contract was approved at the meeting.