Wow. Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
I've been waiting for this news all day, and where do I find it? At Rigzone of all places. Rigzone is reporting: Oil-Rich North Dakota County OKs $500M Shopping Hub.
One of North Dakota's largest oil-producing counties has approved a $500 million development with new stores, apartments and an indoor water park.
The project shows that even with a 50 percent drop in crude oil prices since last summer, developers see long-term potential in building amenities to serve the state's oil counties, which the U.S. Census Bureau has ranked as one of the country's fastest-growing regions for the past four years.
The Williams County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday to approve a zoning variance for Switzerland-based developer Stropiq LLC to build the roughly 200-acre Williston Crossing development.More:
Stropiq plans to build, in four phases, 1 million square feet of retail space; 900 apartments, townhouses and condominiums; 600,000 square feet of office space; four hotels; and an indoor water park.
"There are plenty of smaller communities with many more retail options," said Stropiq's Terry Olin. "There's no reason there shouldn't be a shopping center here."
Williston, the Williams County seat, is the capital of North Dakota's oil boom and the project will be located just north of the city line. Stropiq's main pitch for the commissioners' blessing was the lack of current retail options in the Williston region, with Walmart and a 1950s-era JCPenney offering the best non-oilfield clothes shopping.
Like your average Dunkin Donuts shop, Stropiq will make all of their money back in about 6 months after this project is built, especially as it appears it will be ready in a couple years just as oil prices are set to recover.
ReplyDeleteThere are many, many story lines in this story. For me, the biggest story -- the Bakken is not going to go away. Another story: like the Mall of America, if they build it, they will come. Also, a big kudos for the county commissioners to go forward on this, putting the ball back in Stropiq's court.
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