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Explore Big Sky - June 6, 2016 - Page 1

MAGAZINE: REIMAGINING THE WESTERN TOWN

POSTED BY: TALLEN — JUNE 6,2016

Fargo, North Dakota’s downtown is experiencing a renaissance

thanks to the efforts of Kilbourne Group and its founder Doug Burgum.

PHOTO BY DAN FRANCIS

As cities build out at breakneck speeds, developer Doug Burgum and architect Brian Caldwell look to vibrant downtowns as ways to build community from the inside out.By Tyler Allen

The 1862 Homestead Act promised 160 acres of public property

to settlers willing to stake their dreams on Western migrationand by 1900 the act had led to the distribution of 80 millionacres of federal land. The West was transformed.

Yet the U.S. government also had the foresight to reserve vastexpanses of frontier in national parks, wilderness areas andnational forests, securing protected lands for all Americans inperpetuity.

Today, however, public lands in the Rocky Mountains are feelingthe burden as surrounding communities grow rapidly, applyingunprecedented pressure on these spaces. Few examples betterreflect this than Bozeman, Montana.

This university town, the population nexus of southwestMontana’s Gallatin County, is seeing explosive growth. Thecounty holds more than 100,000 residents and if current trendspersist that number will double by 2040.

The attraction to Bozeman, like other Western mountain towns,is clear. Exceptional skiing and mountain biking, blue-ribbon flyfishing, and abundant open space to view or hunt wildlife arejust a few of the opportunities spurring a modern migration tothis part of the country.

But unchecked outward growth risks jeopardizing the very openspaces, wildlife corridors and unfettered opportunities forsolitude that draw the contemporary American pioneer to thenew American West.

If Bozeman fails to maintain the qualities that draw new settlers—and keep the old—it could risk becoming another Denver bythe turn of the next century. Some developers are looking toother models for answers: a way to build from the inside out.

Nearly 700 miles to the east of Bozeman, one city is beingreimagined with vitality in mind. Sitting on the banks of the RedRiver and known as the “Gateway to the West,” Fargo, NorthDakota, is experiencing a resurgence in its historic downtown ledby the efforts of Doug Burgum and the Kilbourne Group.

As chairman and CEO of GreatPlains Software, Burgumsteered the growth of thesmall startup softwarecompany to its $1.1 billionacquisition by MicrosoftCorporation in 2001. He

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A former vice president ofMicrosoft Corporation,Burgum hopes to be NorthDakota’s next Republicangovernor. PHOTOCOURTESY OF KILBOURNEGROUP

Alley Fair is a communitygathering that transformsthe alleyways ofdowntown Fargo bybringing together some ofthe city’s best arts, music,and food. PHOTO BY DAN

served as the tech giant’s vicepresident until 2007 and in2006 founded KilbourneGroup, driven by the motto“Vibrant downtowns createhealthy, smart cities.”

Burgum is also running anoutsider’s campaign to be

North Dakota’s next Republican governor. With a shock of wavysilver hair and browline glasses, Burgum brings an academicappearance to reining in state spending and advocating localcontrol of government. That platform is informed by his uniqueexperience with public perception as an executive anddeveloper.

Burgum’s first experience with urban renewal came in 2000,when he stepped in to rescue the 70,000-square-foot NorthernSchool Supply building from demolition.

North Dakota State University moved its architecture and artprograms into the formerly rundown warehouse rechristenedRenaissance Hall, and Burgum saw the potential of downtownFargo anchored by students and young professionals at itsheart.

Others see this potential, too. In a March 2016 online columntitled

“[Burgum’s] buildings and restorations have vaulted us into A.D.,”Stark wrote. “More progressive ideas, buildings and peoplefollowed.”

Mandan, North Dakota nativeAngela Renner saw thistransformation firsthand. In2003, she spent a yearstudying at Concordia Collegein Moorhead, Minnesota—justacross the Red River fromFargo—and returned for ayear in 2012 as an emergencyroom nurse at SanfordMedical Center Fargo.

“I don’t know why it happened[in Fargo],” Renner said, notingthe influx of young

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FRANCIS

A Yoga class takes placeon the green rooftop ofdowntown Fargo’s 102Broadway, a KilbourneGroup renovation. PHOTOBY DAN FRANCIS

professionals, the walkabilityof downtown and ubiquitousbike paths. “People are happybeing in Fargo. They are staying there and making it thecommunity they want it to be.”

It’s just the trend Burgum’s trying to capture.

“Part of the way cities grow is that you attract and retainworkforce—people [who] want to live here,” Burgum said,pointing to a cultural shift in those entering and mobilizing withinthe workforce. When he left school, Burgum says it was all aboutfinding a desirable company and moving wherever a positionopened up. Today’s college graduates often choose places they’dlike to live first then look for jobs.

“The economic developmentfolks are starting to figure itout, and it’s not aboutrecruiting companies it’s aboutcreating great places forpeople to live. When we’re ona mission to create vibrantdowntowns we’re basicallydriving this workforce conceptfor the whole city,” Burgumsaid.

Infill projects have economicbenefits becauseinfrastructure including roads,

sewer and utilities already exists, preventing new taxes frombeing levied on the city’s population unlike construction on theedges of town.

“If people want small government, which a lot of people do thesedays, then you have to have a small footprint for your city,”Burgum said.

Both ends of the political spectrum can agree that having vibrantdowntowns benefits everyone, he says. “It’s good for health, it’sgood for workforce development and it certainly is good forkeeping taxes down.”

Burgum has also seen the challenges and opportunities inBozeman. As a member of the Yellowstone Club, the world’s onlyprivate ski and golf community, he’s an hour’s drive south oftown.

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Thinktank Design Groupdeveloped the Lark Hotelon Bozeman, Montana’sMain Street at the site ofthe old Imperial Inn, andwill break ground on a 28-room expansion in 2016.PHOTO BY DANARMSTRONG

“Like a lot of communities, [Fargo’s seen] a lot of new growth onthe edge—no different from Bozeman,” he said. But while the120,000-resident city of Fargo is reinventing its core, Burgumsays Bozeman has preserved its historic downtown.

The Lark Hotel opened on Bozeman’s iconic Main Street in April2015 and is already the most successful hotel in Montana on aper-room occupancy rate. Thinktank Design Group, thearchitecture firm behind the project, breaks ground in October2016 on a 28-room expansion.

“We took an old motor lodge and adaptively repurposed it,” saidThinktank architect

Brian Caldwell, who foundedthe company in 1999 with hisbusiness partner Erik Nelson.“The most ecological thing youcan do is not put [an oldbuilding] in a landfill.”

Burgum agrees, and says thatrenovating buildings withgreen roofs to mitigatestormwater runoff and zoningthem mixed-use to encouragewalkability are some ways hiscompany is limiting itsecological footprint.

“Kilbourne Group looks atrenovation of buildings as thegreatest green thing we can do,” Burgum said. “People getexcited about recycling plastic bottles but turn around andknock a building down.”

Caldwell sees the benefits of infill projects as essential toBozeman’s future as a vibrant city. “Fundamental planning andmaking room for our population in the current footprint iscritical to Bozeman,” he said. “Our development companybelieves strongly in identifying what needs exist and findingcreative solutions in adding to the greater sense of community.”

One deficiency Thinktank has identified is a lack of space for livemusic and events in Bozeman. Instead of looking at newconstruction on the edge of town, they purchased the historicRialto Theatre on Main Street in fall 2015 and begin renovation

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this June.

Like Burgum, Caldwell sees vibrant cities as a way to attract jobsand economic prosperity. He jokes about the “pay-per-viewmountains” in small Western towns, where many professionalsmake half the income they would in large metro areas.

Thinktank believes the environmental impacts of its projects areparamount, and is building the second stage of the Lark Hotelusing cross-laminated timber construction—an innovativedesign method incorporating prefabricated, solid wood panelsthat are environmentally low impact compared to conventionalmethods.

According to Caldwell, it will be one of the first structures of itskind in Montana. While it’s 10-15 percent more expensive thanusing traditional building materials, Caldwell says it’s worth thecost to be on the leading edge of green building and to addressclimate change. “It’s the most responsible way to build, period,”he said. Caldwell not only looks to wood construction as the pastinforming the future, but also a way to prop up Montana townssuffering from a declining logging industry.

“Using wood construction in our urban environment is the bestway of helping rural communities,” he says, adding that archaicbuilding codes favoring steel and cement have slowed cross-laminated timber’s development in the U.S. “There’s a paradigmshift that needs to happen to use wood [in construction] again.”

In Burgum’s eyes, Thinktank has already scored a win with thefirst stage of the Lark. “That’s an amazing project they did,” hesaid. And he sees the potential of cities like Bozeman and Fargoas a reflection of how they were first settled, before automobilesand strip malls pushed development outwardly.

Burgum believes this message will resonate with voters in NorthDakota, a state experiencing budget shortfalls because of low oilprices, but also one with a number of communities home tohistoric downtowns.

“The state doesn’t realize that where they put their infrastructurecan drive the economics,” Burgum said. “We’ve got a playbookdeveloped in downtown Fargo.”

This story was first published in the summer 2016 issue ofMountain Outlaw magazine. Visit the contributing photographers’work at Dan Francis Photography and Dan ArmstrongPhotography.

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