Construction begins on 1,400-person crew camp in Arnegard
By Kate Ruggles
Farmer Staff Writer
A full-service, 100 percent contained crew lodge with the capacity to house 1,400 people is being built in Arnegard and is slated to open in May.
According to Jason Vedadi, president of Titanium Builders, the construction company responsible for building the crew lodge and an owner in the development, 200 units will become available in January and every month after that until May.
The lodge will have two different types of rooms available, but both will offer privacy.
“We don’t believe in Jack and Jill housing. We found that the men really wanted their own bathroom and privacy,” states Vedadi. “There will be individual units with four bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen, microwave and oven, while other rooms will be attached to a corridor that travels throughout the entire lodge and will not come equipped with a microwave.”
The building will be 20,000 sq. ft., with 1,400 rooms, a gym, a full-service kitchen and 24-hour food available.
Vedadi moved to the Bakken from Arizona a few years ago, looking to start a development. He partnered with Charles Carleton, who is from Canada and is familiar with bustling oil communities.
“We came across land in Arnegard and myself and my partners were very interested in acquiring it,” states Vedadi.
The land to which Vedadi is referring is owned by Philip Moen. According to Arnegard Mayor Virginia Elliot, Moen attempted to develop the land two years ago. Two different times, a developer came in and tried to build, but never finished. Now, however, Vedadi and his partners are different.
“They are investing in the Arnegard community along with building this crew lodge,” Elliot states. “They have given $250,000 to the city of Arnegard to do whatever we need to in the town.”
Elliot states that the city of Arnegard will most likely put the money toward the development of a police force for the community.
Vedadi is also putting money into expanding the city’s lagoon, because without an updated lagoon, Arnegard does not have the infrastructure for any new development.
“It is full and behind the times and will not take any new hook-ups,” states Elliot, of the city’s current lagoon.
According to Vedadi, Arnegard couldn’t expand until they either received impact grant money or someone helped them out. Vedadi and his partners decided to help them out.
“We are helping to expand the city’s infrastructure because we need to tie into it, but also because we want to give the city a chance to have the growth they want,” states Vedadi. “We don’t want to be the common developer that doesn’t care about our surrounding community. We want a long-standing relationship between us and the community.”
The crew lodge will be managed by InstaLodge, which is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
“They have several hotels that they manage in cities across the country,” Vedadi states. “They would love to hire locally, but will bring in employees from elsewhere if they have to.”
According to Vedadi, the InstaLodge crew lodge will bring in roughly 80 jobs to the city of Arnegard.