BEC property is subject of buyer interest

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 29, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Beltrami Electric Cooperative has signed a confidentiality agreement with an agent of a party interested in purchasing the land upon which the company's headquarters sits, according to BEC General Manager Roger Spiry.

In a published story in the Blackduck "American," he said that Beltrami Electric has never solicited a company to purchase the Paul Bunyan Drive Northwest property, even though rumors abound in the community about an eventual sale.

In an article in the June edition of Northern Lights -- Beltrami Electric's company newsletter -- Spiry says no final decision has yet been made about whether the company will sell its land and move, most likely to Bemidji's Technology Park, or if the company will simply expand its current facilities.

"These types of decisions are never easy -- typically the financial part is much simpler than the political and emotional part of an issue," he states.

He does state, however, that an addition to the company's office is necessary, as well as an addition to the company's warehouse.

And adds that, "Building in a completely different site is much less disruptive and confusing than two new additions."

If the company decides to build at a new site, according to the newsletter, the company's intention would be to move into the new facility some time between January and July of 2001.

But, if the company decides to proceed with the two needed additions at the present site, the office addition is projected to be completed in 2000, with the warehouse addition following in 2002.

Spiry adds that if building on a new site is approved, the Technology Park, located just north of Paul Bunyan Telephone, 1831 Anne St. N.W., would be the company's preferred site. It is the preferred site because BEC and Paul Bunyan Telephone own most of the land, utilities are already available and it is centrally located within the cooperative's service area.