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 Alerus Center in 2006 | |
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| Former names | Aurora Events Center (pre-construction) |
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| Address | 1200 S. 42nd Street |
| Location | Grand Forks, North Dakota,U.S. |
| Coordinates | 47°54′40″N97°05′28″W / 47.911°N 97.091°W /47.911; -97.091 |
| Owner | City of Grand Forks |
| Capacity | 21,000 Configurations
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| Field size | Overall: 447,000 square feet (41,500 m2) Ballroom: 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) Arena floor dimensions: 415 feet (126 m) north to south 240 feet (73 m) east to west |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | July 15, 1998 (1998-07-15)[1] |
| Opened | February 10, 2001; 24 years ago (2001-02-10) |
| Construction cost | $80 million ($154 million in 2024[2]) |
| Architect | Ellerbe Becket JLG Architects Schoen & Associates |
| Structural engineer | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.[3] |
| Services engineer | Obermiller Nelson Engineering, Inc.[4] |
| General contractor | Mortenson Construction[5] |
| Tenants | |
| North Dakota Fighting Hawks football(NCAA) (2001–present) | |
TheAlerus Center is an indoorarena and convention center in thenorth centralUnited States, located inGrand Forks, North Dakota. The facility is owned and operated by the city of Grand Forks and opened on February 10, 2001.
The arena's major tenant is theUniversity of North Dakotafootball team, and also hosts many large concerts, sporting events, and trade shows. The seating capacity forfootball is 12,283, and up to 21,000 for other events. Located southwest of the UND campus, it is just east ofInterstate 29 and south of its exit 140, the junction withstate highway 297.
The convention center section of the facility includes a 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) ballroom and twelve meeting rooms. The convention center is used for conferences, seminars, banquets, parties, and smaller concerts. Directly adjacent to the Alerus Center is a large hotel and waterpark complex called theCanad Inns Destination Center.
Alerus Center is named after a local financial institution,Alerus Financial, which purchased the building's naming rights. Prior to opening, the facility had been referred to as theAurora Events Center. Its approximateelevation at street level is 835 feet (255 m) abovesea level.
After attempts going back to 1984 to fund expansion of the downtown civic center or construction of a new convention center (1992), in 1995 a vote to increase the local sales tax to build a new events center (dubbed The Aurora Events Center, costing $43 to $49 million) passed with 60% approval. Cost overruns required another vote in 1996 on an events center to cost $57 million which passed with 51% approval.
TheFlood of 1997 delayed the project and led to redesigns to make the facility less susceptible to future flooding. Compass Management was hired to manage facility and in 2000 Aurora was renamed Alerus Center afterAlerus Financial bought naming rights for twenty years. Alerus Center opened on February 10, 2001 with a final cost of $80 million. In 2006 construction started onCanad Inns hotel tower and water park, and was completed in 2007.
In 2007, the city ended its management contract with Compass Management but the same year rehired Compass Management, now renamed VenuWorks, with the provision they won't be paid if they lose taxpayer money. In 2009 Alerus Commission announced they lost $720,000 in the events fund due to Alerus operations. No accounting of that loss is made available to the public.
In July 2017,Spectra came in to take over the management contract for the Alerus Center.[7]
The Alerus Center has a football capacity of 12,283. The Alerus Center record attendance forNorth Dakota Fighting Hawks football is 13,500 vs.North Dakota State University on October 6th, 2001. The second-highest attendance was 13,091 on October 14, 2023. As of September 2024, the Fighting Hawks hold a 110-30 record inside the Alerus Center.
Other events have also been held at Alerus Center includingWWE Smackdown, Toughest Monster Truck Tour, and the 2008 North Dakota Democratic-NPL Convention featuring presidential candidatesBarack Obama andHillary Clinton speaking.[13]
Grand Forks is unique because it is a relatively small market with two major event centers, Alerus Center and theRalph Engelstad Arena, both of which often bid to host the same events. To a lesser extent, theChester Fritz Auditorium in Grand Forks also sometimes competes for these same events as well. Regionally, theFargodome in nearbyFargo and theCanada Life Centre inWinnipeg, Manitoba are seen as competitors to Alerus Center.
Located directly north of Alerus Center sits theCanad Inns Destination Center, completed in 2007.[14] This $50 million complex, also designed byJLG Architects, is anchored by a 201-room, 13-story hotel tower which, at 126 feet (38 m), is the tallest building in Grand Forks and the tallest building constructed inNorth Dakota since the mid-1980s.[15] The Destination Center also includes the largest waterpark in the state, three restaurants, a "boutique" casino, and an arcade. This was the first facility in the United States for the Canadian hotel chain.[16]
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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