Business Development

Overall Goals

Grow the regional labor force by

12,000+

New jobs creation

3,500+

Average annual job compensation

^$74,000+

Additional business sales at full employment

^$1.07B

Business Development

We’re driving growth at scale. We aim to facilitate 130 business expansions or relocations—a 33% increase—that will generate over 3,500 high-quality jobs with average annual compensation exceeding $74,000. When these jobs materialize, they’ll unlock more than $1 Billion in annual business sales, fueling long-term economic strength for the region.

2025 Goals

To be completed by January 2026

Company Expansions or Relocations

Strategic Engagements with Existing Companies to Support Their Growth

150

Assist Companies with Various Business Issues

Number of Certified Sites Available for Development through the Calendar Year

5/7

Company Expansions or Relocations 20

The GFMEDC is dedicated to driving economic growth by helping primary-sector companies, and those considering our region, access the resources, insights and connections they need to succeed. Whether we’re supporting local businesses in expansion or attracting new companies to the market, we know that growth decisions are shaped by many factors. Sometimes, a single introduction or opportunity can be the spark that drives major investment. That’s where Innovate28 comes in—connecting businesses to valuable information, strategic partners and growth opportunities that turn potential into progress. The result? More wealth, more jobs and a stronger regional economy.

14 successful projects toward the 2025 goal of 25, and the long-term goal of 130 by January 2029:

1. Sheyenne Forming Inc.
2.Integrity Steel Supply
3. Immersive Reality USA
4. Lura Concrete Screed
5. SpaceAge Synthetics
6. GoodBulb
7. Bert’s Truck Equipment
8. Long Creek Steel
9. DakotaMB
10. SignBadgers
12. Applied Digital
13. Reach Right
14. Office Sign Company
15. Northern Stone

Industry Breakdown: 11 advanced manufacturing, 1 value-added ag processing,
1 software/hardware, 1 data center.

Strategic Engagements with Existing Companies to Support their Growth 150

The Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC’s Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) program, branded as Minding Our Own Business(es), is a free service for primary-sector employers that forms the foundation of our work to support existing industry. Through data-informed surveys and one-on-one visits, we engage directly with decision-makers to understand workforce needs, operational challenges, infrastructure constraints, and growth opportunities. These insights allow the EDC to share relevant resources and financing tools, connect companies to partners across the business ecosystem and education sector, and respond quickly when concerns surface through our internal technology tracking system. The aggregate data also informs public policy priorities and collaborative regional initiatives so that the experience of local employers meaningfully shapes economic decision-making. In addition to ongoing project support that equates to over 61% of successfully completed projects – we provide direct assistance that includes certifications, grant and tax credit guidance, workforce and market development, and media support, and are currently piloting Industry Benchmark Reports that provide participating companies with comparative industry insights and a clearer view of market conditions. These efforts help companies make data-driven decisions while ensuring policymakers and partners understand the trends affecting local business, reinforcing the EDC’s commitment to retaining and growing the employers that drive the region’s economy.

Assist Companies with Various Business Issues 75

The GFMEDC’s support of business is not exclusively limited to supporting workforce needs or business expansion projects. The team provides primary-sector companies with a wide range of support. Some of the assists may be as a result from a meeting or request from a company, while some assists may come from proactive actions by GFMEDC as we stay on top of available resources and information that may be pertinent to particular companies. These smaller assists happen regularly over time, and the support provided to companies paves the way for expansions and job creation down the road. Part of our roles are to “know a little bit of a lot of things” to be a resourceful and trusted partner for our primary sector companies. To date, we have supported 87 company assists.

TOP FIVE ASSIST THEMES

1. Primary-Sector Certification Support

2. Media and Promotion (e.g., Fargo INC features, StartupBREW mentions)

3. Funding and Resource Guidance (LIFT, BND programs, tax credits, foundations/PRIs)

4. Business Connections and Referrals

5. Event and Program Awareness

Number of Certified Sites Available for Development through the Calendar Year 5/7

The GFMEDC has worked with multiple partners to build the Certified Site Program and qualify sites across the region as document ready, which means that a significant amount of pre-work, identification and location of utilities, and technical reporting on the properties is complete.

For example, to be deemed document ready, a site has completed a litany of technical work such as soil surveys, environmental assessments, wetlands mapping or endangered species assessment. The more technical reports completed, the higher the document ready certification – bronze, silver, gold or the highest, platinum.

The GFMEDC worked with global site location consultant, Phil Schneider, Schneider Consulting, to develop this program. Schneider has reviewed and certified each site based on the appropriate level of data provided.

PREPPING PROPERTIES – DOCUMENT-READY (CERTIFIED) SITES ACCELERATE SPEED TO MARKET

In the Greater Fargo-Moorhead region, speed to market is a priority. Through a partnership-driven effort, the GFMEDC has established a Document-Ready Sites program to accelerate development by certifying properties that have completed key pre-development work such as utility identification, soil surveys, and environmental assessments. Sites are rated bronze to platinum based on the depth of technical reporting, with certifications reviewed by global site consultant, Phil Schneider, with Global Location Strategies (GLS). This program ensures faster project timelines, and a diverse inventory of sites tailored to a range of industry needs.

The GFMEDC along with a collection of regional stakeholders began evaluating certified (shovel ready) site programs in early 2019. Using Xcel Energy’s Certified Site Program as a model, the regional stakeholders agreed to engage with Phil Schneider, an internationally recognized site selection consultant, to help build a new regional program covering both Cass and Clay Counties.

“Having marketable business and industrial sites has always been important to a company’s site selection process, and to economic development in general. It has become more critical than ever both because so many communities around the country have rapidly upped their game in preparing and marketing ready-to-go sites to companies considering expansion. Also, since the pandemic, companies’ have had to double down on their speed-to-market which in turn has made the availability of document-ready sites an integral part of their location decision process – therefore, now essentially table-stakes for economic development efforts,” said Phil Schneider, GLS.

The Document-Ready Sites program focuses on recruiting industrial projects and businesses to the greater FM region while also providing existing companies a place in which to expand. The sites enrolled in the program have much of the critical technical information readily available including planning, zoning, surveys, title work, environmental studies, wetland delineation, geotechnical studies and more.

The GFMEDC continues to coordinate with many partners to add additional sites to the Document-Ready Site Program.

Supporting the Attraction, Retention and Expansion of Primary-Sector Companies

The GFMEDC works to support the attraction, retention and expansion of primary-sector businesses. Supporting primary-sector growth brings new wealth to our regional economy and supports job creation.

A prime example of long-term support is Elinor Coatings, which was founded in 2006 and continues to rely on the GFMEDC to help them stay on top of opportunities as the company grows.

“The GFMEDC has been a primary source of information and support to us as a startup and as a growing business,” CEO Holly Anderson said. “They celebrate our successes and do everything they can to alleviate our frustrations. As a primary-sector business, I am so grateful for their care and attention.”

Anderson shared a list of opportunities Elinor Coatings has experienced, thanks to the GFMEDC, including:

Representing North Dakota entrepreneurs as a delegate in India
Competing (and becoming a national finalist) in the CleanTech Accelerator program
Receiving a grant at an SBA conference that kicked off their federal contracting journey
Being featured in business magazines
Speaking on panels and at events, and participating in workshops, seminars and retreats.
Having the GFMEDC act as their fiscal agent for the North Dakota New Jobs program
Getting alerted to state programs like Operation Intern, the North Dakota Venture Capital Fund and LIFT program
Being part of a NASA roundtable, meeting with public officials and attending sessions on Department of Defense contracting opportunities
Receiving assistance with employee searches, wage comparisons and tours for out-of-state job candidates
Help finding commercial space as they grow
GFMEDC support as an advisor and participant on the Aurora Center for Extreme Weather Materials
GFMEDC partnership in the planning and coordination of the annual Aurora Center’s Cold Weather Readiness Summit

“The entire (GFMEDC) staff contributes actively to our health and well-being as a company,” Anderson said. “Plus, they are just really awesome people to have in our community.”

While the GFMEDC spends time focused on supporting the success and growth of local primary-sector companies like Elinor Coatings, staff also works to attract new businesses to the market.

Applied Digital broke ground in September 2025 on a new campus, Polaris Forge 2, near Harwood, North Dakota where they are initially constructing two buildings totaling 300 MW of Critical Load. Spanning more than 900 acres, Polaris Forge 2 is engineered to deliver best-in-class efficiency with a projected PUE of 1.18 and near-zero water consumption. The initial 200 MW are phased within two buildings and are expected to begin to come online in 2026 and reach a total of 200 MW in 2027, with the campus being designed for future expansion. This new AI Factory campus further advances Applied Digital’s rapid growth and reinforces North Dakota’s position as one of the most strategically important destinations for AI infrastructure in the United States.

The GFMEDC worked closely with Applied Digital, local civic leaders, and utility partners on various aspects of this project to support the attraction of the $3 Billion data center investment which was recently announced.

GFMEDC staff have already conducted various workforce assessments that show our market’s ability to provide the talent needed to support this facility and are confident Applied Digital’s operations will fit nicely with our region’s talent pool. In addition, the GFMEDC is working with Applied Digital to conduct an economic impact analysis to demonstrate the broader metro wide economic impacts to the community during construction phase and eventual annual operations.

"We believe Polaris Forge 2 represents the next stage in Applied Digital’s rapid growth and our position as a leader in delivering high-performance AI infrastructure," said Wes Cummins, CEO of Applied Digital. "The demand for AI capacity continues to accelerate, and North Dakota continues to be one of the most strategic locations in the country to meet that need. We believe this new campus will strengthen our operations, increase our ability to scale, and create lasting value for both our customers and the communities we serve."

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