New Dickinson National Guard Armory in the works - KFYR-TV

The Dickinson National Guard Armory is getting a $15.5 million upgrade that will offer more space for the Guard.

The 50-year-old building host many community events throughout the week like basketball games, National Guard drills on the weekend, and housing a full time staff. But Staff Sergeant Greff says the building has served its purpose but this change will be nice.

"We need more room for training areas, we need more room for maintenance of equipment than we did 50 year ago and as such it's not that the building is bad it's just that the army needs a different type of facility,", said Greff.

Along with the need for more training and equipment space Greff says the locker space is a problem as well, being that the women's locker room was originally made for the male officers and he says that as the percentage of females in the military goes up the need for more space goes up as well.

The guard is still in the process of coming up with a design.

ND National Guard’s Russ Wolf said, "And as soon as we get the actually funding in hand from National Guard bureau then we'll start construction."

That Construction will be a 50,000 square feet facility where the guard will train 80 soldiers. It will house 3 full-time personnel and two state employees for maintenance. It will be located near Dickinson Public Works.

The national guard plans to start construction in 2023.