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Minot Daily News: Breaking ground for Blu on Broadway

July 22, 2020

Check out this great article in Minot Daily News regarding the Blu on Broadway Groundbreaking Ceremony on July 21st!

-> View the full article here.

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Construction already has started, but Tuesday marked the official groundbreaking for Blu on Broadway, a commercial and low-income residential development of EPIC Companies.

“It’s going to be a first class facility once it’s done,” said Blake Nybakken, vice president of development for EPIC Companies. “There’ll be 42 units that are going to be in the affordable housing market for the next 20 years as part of the affordability period, so there’s going to be some nice opportunities for for different families and individuals for affordable housing for many years to come once we’re done – hopefully, next summer.”

The five-story building at 1629 S. Broadway will include 8,800 square feet of main level commercial space. Retail, dining and office space all are options for the commercial space, according to EPIC Companies. The property will include amenities such as underground parking and outdoor recreation space.

As an affordable housing project, Blu On Broadway is receiving $4 million in assistance from Minot’s National Disaster Resilience program. It also is receiving interest buydown from the Bank of North Dakota and is part of Minot’s first Tax Increment Financing District, which will provide a five-year tax abatement on site improvements in exchange for EPIC Companies’ street development on the back side of the project. However private funds make up the largest share of the project, which is led by ICON Architectural Group and Gehrtz Construction Services.

“This is a project that, hopefully, will serve as a precedent-setting model for the city for the future, to really give the residents of Minot and the city government a good example of what sustainable economic and housing growth can mean and can look like for the city for the long term,” said John Zakian, resilience program manager for the City of Minot.

“It also demonstrates that we can take property like this and really convert it into something that is a shining example of what the city can do, and what the city can represent,” he added.

“We absolutely are 100% sure that this is going to be an asset and really a benchmark moving forward on what we can achieve through redevelopment within our own community,” Minot Mayor Shaun Sipma said.

The project redevelops property that once was the site of the Northern Bottling plant.

Northern Bottling ended production at the site 13 years ago, said Will Gokey with the family-operated company. First Western Bank connected EPIC Company with the Gokeys as the project first came together.

“It’s absolutely a nice thing to see,” Gokey said Tuesday of the construction in progress.

EPIC Companies is a local investment, development and management firm. EPIC Companies manages over 400 residential units and 250,000 square feet of commercial space in Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks, Minot, Bismarck and Detroit Lakes, Minn., with more units coming under construction in Jamestown, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Fargo, West Fargo, and Minot.

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