“It’s such a wonderful place to work” Public Gets Introduced to New Fargo City Hall

FARGO, N.D. – The City of Fargo is celebrating its fifth city hall since the city was founded in 1871.

A community open house was held Tuesday to show off the new heart of city government in downtown Fargo as a sort of official grand opening.

Let the celebration begin on the nearly $30 million building that every person who calls Fargo “home” can be proud of.

“We’re really glad the building is finally done. We can move in our employees are happy. It’s a better workspace for everybody. It is a little bit, Bruce Grubb and I say we’ve got productivity up 20% because it’s such a wonderful place to work,” Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said.

It’s efficient, technologically up-to-date and secure.

While the building opened for business and a ribbon cutting was held in September, this was the first chance for many people to check out all three floors of the new city hall.

The architect says he is proud that his name is attached to the project.

“It’s an absolute honor from an architectural perspective to get to design a building this significant in the community’s history,” Terry Stroh with TL Stroh Architects said.

Talk about building a new city hall started in 2013 since the building from the 1960’s was cramped and outdated for a city that continues to grow in both size and population.

Fargo’s mayor at the time, Denny Walaker, said the building had serious infrastructure problems and had “lost its usefulness.”

Fast forward to 2018 and a new city hall that houses more than 200 employees in 150-thousand square feet and housing 12 city departments and divisions. It is energy efficient with LED lighting. Art fills the walls inside and out. Security has been upgraded. And it was built so that a fourth floor addition can be added in the future as Fargo continues to grow.

“We’re a city on the go. So we’re a city that’s growing and developing we’re a place of young people that come in to our community they have to feel that we’re on the edge of doing things, that we have the buzz,” Mayor Mahoney explained.

Red River Valley SWAT will conduct training Wednesday and Thursday at the old city hall. It will include explosive breaching which will create loud noises.