[SmileyBoy]

Two thinks working against a high-rise environment in Fargo as compared to Regina:

1) F-M is located on, depending on where you are, 100-120 feet of soft clay, meaning it costs more to build a 20-storey building in downtown Fargo than it would in Regina. This scares away investment. Some people have told me that the deep clay IS the reason that "no high-rises can be built" in Fargo, but that's false. There is already an 18 and a 22-storey building downtown, so it's not that it can't be done. It's that there's more of an investment risk as costs go higher with extra foundation work.

2) Downtown Fargo is located right underneath the airplane path to Hector International Airport for planes flying from Mpls., Chicago and Orlando to land on the runway. I believe there is a 210 foot height limit for buildings downtown because of this.

This is not to say downtown Fargo could not have a lot of 150-200 foot high rises in is city centre, being a slightly shorter version of Regina's skyline. I think you'll see investment grow more through the years. Understand that from the early 70's to the year 2000, DT Fargo was left abandoned to its own devices by local civic leaders. The DT of my childhood was a shell of what it was like in the 2000's when I want to college there, and in 2011. The 2000's were downtown's Renaissance, and I think the next phase will happen this decade (though I'm not around to see it). There are a TON of small-scale developments that make downtown Fargo compete with Regina, not in the density department, but the overall, fun/economic activity scale. For example, numerous high-end restaurants, shops, boutique hotels, etc. DT Fargo has become a very yuppie place in the past 6-7 years, (I liken it to a gritty version of Mpls.' Uptown District) and there is talk of a 15-20 storey skyscraper in the last open plot of land on Broadway to not yet be filled up. I believe Facebook has pics of the winning design submissions.

One more thing that I think works against DT Fargo getting high rises: Most of the new businesses in Fargo want to locate in the SW suburbs, and most condo development is happening there as well. but there have been some investments downtown, but almost every project that has taken place downtown is just rehabbing and renoing old, abandoned buildings. Once the old space runs out, you'll start seeing a new construction boom.