Whether you look on or off campus, Grand Forks has changed a lot between the spring and fall semesters this year. There were a number of businesses that closed or opened, not to mention the campus slowly being remodeled and renovated.
In terms of changes, you might notice on campus, it is mostly things that have been in production for a while now and are just being completed. On the east side of campus, the Squires dining and residence halls along with the University Avenue overpass have been demolished as part of UND’s Housing Improvement Project, which includes other campus housing plans, such as the replacement of West Hall and improvements to the Noren and Selke halls. The new residence hall replacements for West and McVey on the west side of campus can already be seen as they were completed over the summer for a planned occupancy during the Fall 2023 semester. These new residence hall changes come at the same time as UND has begun the renovation of Merrifield Hall, the longstanding home to the English, Foreign Languages, Drama, and Philosophy departments from the College of Arts and Sciences, which is slated to finalize in the summer of 2024 and will feature a new ADA-compliant entrance and updated facilities within. For now, these departments have been relocated across from Nistler to Gamble Hall.
Another large project taking shape on campus is the construction of Memorial Village along the east side of the Columbia Avenue overpass. This building will serve as an athletic facility with offices along with other athletic services located on the ground floor and apartments being located on the upper floors of the building. This building will be connected to the Pollard Athletic Center by way of an enclosed glass walkway. For now, the first phase is being constructed ahead of the completion of fundraising for phase two and both the construction of phase one and fundraising for phase two are expected to be completed during the summer of 2024. The construction comes at a tumultuous time for UND athletics as a longstanding staple of UND, the Hyslop Sports Center, has been slated for demolition starting next summer as well.
The campus is not the only place where you will see big changes taking shape around town. Many other businesses have been cropping up around town, though there have been a few closures that are likely to be missed by UND students. Two of the biggest closures to hit the city of Grand Forks are Rhombus Guys Brewery and the only movie theatre on the North Dakota side of the border, AMC. It was announced mid-July that the brewery side of Rhombus Guys would be ceasing operations of both the restaurant and Brewery, though the Pizzaria would remain open for business. This is a big loss for the city as Rhombus Guys was one of only three breweries in the city with Half Brothers and Oxford Brewing being the other two on the list. AMC joins Rhombus Guys as a high-profile closure for the city as it was the only theatre on the Dakota side of the border. This classic theatre had been a staple of 32nd Avenue on the south end of town for a long time due to its easily seen and distinguishable façade. Following the closure, it was quickly announced via social media that Odyssey Cinemas would be making their expansion to North Dakota by buying the AMC building and renovating it. According to one Facebook post, Odyssey is a family run business with ties to the Grand Forks area thanks to employees who currently or have previously lived in the area.
Heading west along 32nd Avenue from the old AMC building you will notice other businesses making their way to Grand Forks. In the fact, that a new Discount Tire store has opened across the street from Walmart on the southwest corner of 32nd and Columbia. With nearly perfect five-star reviews across the board, it seems that the new store is doing well. They will face some competition from the new Les Schwab Tire Center that will be constructed on the corner of 32nd and 42nd where the Denny’s restaurant was previously located, which was recently demolished following the closure of the restaurant. Across the parking lot from this tire center a new banner can be seen advertising some storefronts down from Pizza Ranch, such as the addition of a Crumbl Cookie to Grand Forks, which is a popular cookie bakery started in 2017 known for its variety and sometimes outlandish cookie flavors.
A number of restaurants have also been opened and closed in town. The first notable addition to the city of Grand Forks is the opening of a Nautical Bowls location, which marks its second location in the state of North Dakota, after Fargo. They specialize in healthy, plant-based Acai bowls and feature a number of specialty pre-made options along with a build your own item. Along with most of the new businesses, it is located at the south end of town along 32nd Avenue, a Tropical Smoothie Café was also opened near the Goodwill location.
There were also two changes in fast food restaurants in Grand Forks. First, the Burger King location on Washington Avenue closed leaving only the one location off 32nd avenue, which had its parking lot almost halved by the addition of a Caribou drive through location. Along 42nd Avenue across from Boss Pizza, it was announced that a new Domino’s Pizza location would be opening, which will better serve the Western portion of the city as both of the other locations are positioned to serve customers on the east side. It will be interesting to see how they perform at such a close proximity to a well-established pizza restaurant, such as Boss, but as they each occupy different parts of the market, business will likely not be hindered in favor of either restaurant.
Over the course of this summer and the subsequent semesters there will be a large number of changes in the city, and it is exciting to see the city develop more and more. There are hopes for more things to do and entertainment focused businesses in town, and most people will take day trips down to Fargo to find new things to do on a weekend. In the meantime, it is good to see that businesses are still choosing to open new locations in Grand Forks, which bodes well for the city.
Dylan Enerson is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
