Stop-N-Go Center – Fargo

Stop-N-Go Center is a 104,000 SF mixed use facility located in Fargo. The building features a 75 space underground parking garage, 27,000 square feet of retail/office lease space on the ground floor with a 3- story, 75-unit apartment building above.

The project is noted to be the first post-tensioned mixed-use structure in North Dakota. Post-tensioning provided many other benefits to the structure. This type of building system was able to easily accommodate a fire rated floor between parking, retail and residential sections of the building. It easily accommodated an industrial, high-tech look in the apartments. These apartment units are designed with large expanses of windows, high ceilings, and exposed ductwork, a normally appealing setup for the prospective tenants, who are expected to be NDSU faculty and students. Additionally, the project incorporated stained concrete floors and exposed concrete ceilings and columns to produce an apartment product unlike any in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

The Owner also liked post-tensioning capabilities including flexible use and economy. The freestanding concrete frame will allow maximum versatility for floor plans and eventual reuse and remodeling. Uses of nominal 7 to 9 inch thick floors reduce building height and dead load, and thus reduction in cost. The type allows for flat slab cantilevered decks, optimal sound suppression between floors, and avoidance of the high cost and untimely delivery of structural steel components.

This project proves once again that local contractors and concrete suppliers can innovate and provide practical solutions to difficult designs in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Using some advanced tools to meet project goals, the 6,000 psi post-tension mixes were able to reach 3,000 psi in 24 hours to keep the project on schedule. Mixes with optimized aggregate, high range water reducers, high slump mixes and hydration stabilization we part of the concrete tool package. To mitigate adversity during hot weather, concrete placements were scheduled for the evenings where finishing and plastic shrinkage cracking issues could be avoided.

This award winning project has a total of 7,700 cubic yards of concrete, including structure and parking lots. We welcome the post-tensioned structure technology to North Dakota, and thereby, add the Innovative Project category to this wonderful project. Congratulations to a great team putting on an impressive effort to get this project constructed on-time and on-budget.