Albert Lea gets new industrial park

Staff

Published Thursday, August 31, 2006

By Kari Lucin, staff writer

Albert Lea’s new industrial park likely will have lots on the market in 14 months, fully served by city sewer and water, electrically hooked up and ready for industry, said Paul Sparks, executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency.

The new park, an inverted-L-shaped section of land between South Broadway Avenue and Margaretha Avenue starting just south of 11th Street, will contain 10 lots ranging in size from 2.99 acres to 13.21 acres.

The project’s estimated cost is between $3 and $3.5 million, about $50,000 per buildable acre, and includes road grading and curb and gutter installation.

“It’s very competitive, it’s a fiercely competitive business,” Sparks said. “The secret is to have land available, fully served with utilities and roads, and get it as far along as you can so that you can tell an industry, ‘Look, you can start construction tomorrow if you want to.’”

Persuading an industry to build in any particular town means making that town as attractive as possible to the industry, keeping suitable land with utility connections and roads ready for sale, Sparks said.

Though the city of Albert Lea is not paying for any part of the project, the Albert Lea City Council waived about $250,000 in sewer and water area charges, meant to pay for sewer and water improvements the Port Authority will simply pay $900,000 for directly. Normally the city would make the improvements and then collect area charges.

“The reason we are is that the city can’t afford to do it right now, and we can’t afford to wait,” Sparks said. “We are out of land that’s fully served.”

Economic development deals sometimes take years to make. The new land will be particularly good for food industries because of the projected high sewer and water capacities, though it would also work for general manufacturing, Sparks said. Because of the limited area, it may not be as good for warehousing.

Should one of the industries need it, railroad tracks could be brought into the area too, Sparks said.

Two water retention ponds have been planned for the park to help cope with Albert Lea’s perennial water runoff problems, one 3.45 acres and the other 5.91 acres. Both ponds have been designed to cope with 100-year storm events.

The City Council approved the final plat for the new industrial park during its Monday meeting, though approval for waiving the $250,000 sewer and water area charges came in at a 5-2 vote.

“I want this project to go forward, with all my heart I do, but those people in my ward suffer every single year, first they suffered with the 100-year rain event and they bear the cost for that,” said Councilor George Marin, who voted against the waiver. “I want to be ensured that this new development is not going to make that area worse.”

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