Nine block area of downtown Moorhead will be demolished to make way for redevelopment project

(Fargo, ND) -- A nine block area of downtown Moorhead is set for demolition, but it wont happen all at once. 

"Yes over time. I think because we have time and because we can be strategic on how we lay this out we certainly don't want to put any of those businesses existing within the mall in jeopardy so we are working with those folks to find them new locations or have them be a part of the redevelopment," said Derrick LaPoint, President and CEO of Downtown Moorhead, Inc.

LaPoint is talking about the massive commercial and residential redevelopment project planned for the downtown area. He says some of the "heavy activity" associated with the project will begin next summer, and says it could take anywhere from five to six years to complete the project.

"You know we went through so much trauma in Moorhead when urban renewal took down a majority of downtown Moorhead and we're starting to see those pieces start to kind of get put back together in a mixed use presence creating that neighborhood presence in an environment where people you know desire to be, desire to shop or to eat," said LaPoint.