FARGO - Plans to build a housing and retail complex just east of North Dakota State University's Sanford Health Athletic Complex were dealt a blow Monday, May 8, when a request to vacate an alley failed to get a four-vote supermajority from the City Commission.

The NDSU Foundation and developer PROffutt Ltd sought to have all but about 100 feet of an alley on the 1600 block of North University Drive vacated so construction on the four-story complex could get underway.

Homes and garages for 21 of the 22 properties on the block have already been demolished. One homeowner decided not to sell his property.

Roosevelt Neighborhood spokesman Ken Enockson said he and others in the area are "not under any illusion that they will keep the project from going forward," but that they were "trying to maintain our quality of life."

Enockson said the NDSU Foundation aggressively sought to buy homes on the block over a span of two decades without telling Roosevelt Neighborhood residents what they planned to do.

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Enockson said 18 of the homes demolished were still livable.

"It wasn't imperative that we rip these houses down," he said.

He said having homes bought up to be turned into rental properties, then allowed to deteriorate, is a problem that must be addressed.

"The system works great for developers, but for those of us who live in the neighborhoods (affected), it doesn't work well for us," Enockson said.

Mayor Tim Mahoney and Commissioners Tony Grindberg and Tony Gehrig voted for the alley vacation, while John Strand and Dave Piepkorn voted no. The issue needed at least four votes to pass.

Planning Director Jim Gilmour said the NDSU Foundation and PROffutt may have to consider a building plan for the block that doesn't require the alley to be vacated, or make another attempt to get the alley vacated.

PROffutt's $23 million plan includes a mix of 103 two- and four-bedroom apartments that can provide 344 beds. The plan includes 6,230 square feet of retail space on the northwest and southwest corners of the block. It will have 258 parking spaces (90 of them below ground), with 25 parking spots dedicated for use by retail outlets, such as a restaurant or coffee shop.

The project includes a 3,847-square-foot "Clubhouse" area for the southwest side of the block near the Bison Court and Stockbridge Hall that is envisioned as a student lounge and social space.

If construction starts this spring, the building should be ready for occupancy by the end of July 2018, according to a timetable supplied by PROffutt.

The block is bound by North University Drive, 12th Street, and 16th and 17th avenues.

In other business, the commission voted 5-0 to allow the rezoning of two residential properties just south of the NDSU campus.

Roers Development wanted 1121 and 1141 18th S. changed from being zoned single dwelling residential to University Mixed Use. UMU allows for a minimum density of 18 dwelling units per acre.

The rest of the block that those two homes sit on, which is bordered by 11th and 12th avenues north and 17th and 18th streets, was zoned University Mixed Use in 2009, Gilmour said.

Gilmour did not know what Roers eventually hoped to build there.