I wish they would do something on this grand of a scale in Grand Forks, but it seems like people are obsessed with driving to strip malls. They did try building a new apartment building on 42nd Ave west of Campus with commercial space on the ground floor, but they couldn't find any businesses who wanted to rent. This is sort of odd, considering how many new buildings are going up.
The city council keeps shooting down ideas to use the open space for downtown, but it looks like nobody is going to bring some serious money to the table like they are doing in Fargo, first with the new student apartments downtown and now this thing. I like it, but I wish I knew your secret. Maybe something will get built if UND follows through with its crazy 'UND Downtown' plan.