FARGO - Developers are planning a $10.5 million high-end apartment complex just north of the new City Hall on the site of the former Howard Johnson hotel and Sidestreet Grille & Pub.

The plan by Northland Hospitality LLC will be reviewed by the Renaissance Zone Authority at its meeting 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, according to documents from the Planning and Development department.

The City Centre Lofts at 301 3rd Ave. N. will be an improvement in downtown's riverfront area, Planner Derrick LaPoint said Tuesday.

"We had a vacant parcel sitting right along some fine area on the riverfront. What we're excited for is more people living downtown," LaPoint said.

With lots of new restaurants and retailers, downtown needs residents to help the businesses thrive, LaPoint said. "We need to increase our population downtown," he said. "We're glad to see more people investing in the downtown as well."

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The bar and hotel that once occupied the site were bought out and demolished by the city to make way for a rerouting of Second Street North, which had to be shifted to the west to make way for a new floodwall.

Kevin Hall, a principal in Northland Hospitality, said the views of the Red River to the east make the site perfect for the 36 high-end condominiums and apartments planned in the project.

"It's probably one of the priceless locations along the river in downtown Fargo," Hall said, adding that the new flood protection made it even more enticing for redevelopment.

The project plan calls for 63,000 square feet of housing on three floors, with 50,000 square feet of first-floor parking, and another 32,000 square feet of parking lot.

The mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units would be available for leasing and buying. The 175-space indoor parking facility would also be available for nonresidents.

City staff scored the City Centre Lofts at 93 on a 100-point scale grading potential Renaissance Zone projects and support Northland's application for five-year exemptions from property and income tax. The developer also plans to seek a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, another type of city tax break, but hasn't filed an application yet.

The Renaissance Zone board will also review a request by Rick Nymark, the owner of Tailgators Sports Cafe, to have the block that his bar and restaurant and a number of other buildings sit on become a "candidate block" for possible future inclusion in the city's Renaissance Zone.

The block, bounded by Main Avenue and 1st Avenue South, and University Drive and 14th Street South, is about two-thirds owned by Nymark and the ownership group he represents, according to a city documents.

In a letter to the Renaissance Zone Authority, Nymark said the block has several commercial and residential properties, which while functional, are "somewhat blighted." The ownership group "would like to demolish and/or rehabilitate some of these properties and establish refurbished or newly constructed retail and/or residential structures," on the block.

LaPoint said there are no immediate plans to redevelop the block.

Low-end development options would range from $1 million to $3 million, while higher-end options would top $6 million, Nymark said in his letter.

A request by development company 701 Collective to add two blocks to the Renaissance Zone is also being recommended for approval by city staff.

The two blocks are located between University Drive and 14th Street North and First Avenue North and NP Avenue, just west of the Prairie Foods Cooperative building.

Concert promoter Jade Nielsen and his partner Ian Johnson said they plan to redevelop existing industrial sites on the blocks into an arts center, and food and beverage businesses.

The partners bought the former CHS Sunflower Processing Plant at 18 13½ St. N. and have purchased or have purchase agreements for other properties in the area. The plan for the 13,000-square-foot CHS warehouse is to turn it into what is - for now - being called the "Sunflower Center for the Arts," with a theater, an events center and a taproom.

Another property, the former Border Cities Service building at 30 N. University Drive, is being converted to hold Daran's Southern Soul Food and West Indian Cuisine restaurant.