The West Acres Mall area has grown and flourished. The mall itself was originally opened in 1972 (coming up on 40 yrs old folks). Back when the mall was built it was supporting a population of about 120k. The metropolitan area now has nearly 210k. By 2030, if the metropolitan area continues to grow at 20% (no reason why it can't), we are going to be looking at roughly 300k people (if not more from increased growth).

In order to compete with Grand Forks, Sioux Falls, Bismarck, Minot, St. Cloud, etc... for shoppers, we need to be the premiere shopping destination. In order to do that, I think the West Acres Mall needs to be rebuilt, a section at a time, into a new 2-3 storie mall complex. There's no reason it can't fit in the current space occupied by 13th Ave to the North, I-29 to the East, 17th Ave to the South and 42nd St to the West. This new complex should be capable of holding 250-300 stores and anchored by at least 4 major tenants. The new mall would have parking ramps to handle the number of vehicles that would frequent it. I also imagine development would explode around the mall area. New, larger hotels, eateries, services, etc...

By this time, 13th Ave is going to have to be 6 lanes minimum from I-29 all the way out to Cheyenne Street in West Fargo.

By this time, there should also be a direct off and on ramp to the interstate from the new mall. Instead of ramps on the outside of the interstate lanes, it could be put in the center, as not to cause problems with other ramps for 13th Ave and I-94, sort of like how I-394's carpool lanes are positioned.