GRAND FORKS — Construction of the Altru Sports Complex along Grand Forks’ South 42nd Street is progressing on schedule, including plans for Phase 2 of the project.
was held in June. City Administrator Todd Feland said most of the underground utilities like water and sewer were completed in the fall, and now crews are working on installing the foundation for the sports complex and putting up the steel structure for the pickleball area and the precast concrete for the aquatic complex.
The next step, according to Feland, will be putting up steel for the turf area.
Feland also said paving for the parking lots and street construction for a road connecting to 17th Avenue South likely will start later this year, possibly in the summer.
If construction continues to stay on track, Phase 1 is set to be complete in the fall of 2027.
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
The budget is also staying on target for the projected $110 million cost of the complex itself, plus an additional $10 million for off-site infrastructure, including paving and underground utilities.
“We had some reductions on the aquatic part of it when we got the final bids, and so I think there will actually be some net reductions,” Feland said. “We were talking around maybe $600,000 less based upon how actual bids came in.”
The Grand Forks City Council will hear an update on Phase 1 construction at its Committee of the Whole work session on Jan. 26. The council also will hear an update on the schematic design and budget for Phase 2, which includes construction of the four hard courts and the sports performance addition.
Feland added the construction manager and architect for the Altru Sports Complex has reported that those designs and cost estimates for Phase 2 are also still on target.
“So that’s another positive sign,” he said.
If the City Council decides to bid Phase 2, that portion of the project would be completed around the summer of 2028.
The city and the Grand Forks Park District will also have an update on the operations and maintenance budget for both phases of the project during the Jan. 26 meeting.
Contributed
With some of the more obvious steel structures being installed for the complex, Feland said he’s heard from community members how “positively struck” they are by the state of the project right now as they drive down 42nd Street or nearby Interstate 29.
“That’s with just the aquatic and the pickleball,” he said. “The turf component will be the largest and highest structure, so people will even see it more and more as that gets put together.”
He also said there have already been preparations about balancing continuing construction of the Altru Sports Complex with the beginning of
construction for the future Grand Forks Children’s Museum,
which is planned to be built nearby.
The complex will be funded by the continuance of a 0.75% city sales tax. In November 2023,
Grand Forks voters approved a plan
to continue the tax, which has been in place since 1996 and funded construction of and later improvements to the city-owned Alerus Center. The city owns the Altru Sports Complex, but naming rights were granted to Altru Health System after the Grand Forks-based health care provider donated $10 million.
The proposal to continue the tax — which was scheduled to sunset in 2029 — was approved by 66% of voters.
Jordan Rusche is the government reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.