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City promotes vacant Checkers site to potential buyers [UPDATED]
Published 11:33am Monday, November 8, 2010 Updated 11:33am Monday, November 8, 2010The old Checkers Home and Lumber Warehouse facility has been vacant for about a year now, but the city has been promoting the site in an effort to re-ignite commerce in the area.
The three buildings at 801 Stanton Ave. once made up a lumber yard and hardware store, and with 70,000 square feet, economic development director for Fergus Falls Harold Stanislawski believes the amount of storage space offered makes the site an asset to the community.
- The three buildings that were formerly Checkers Home and Lumber Warehouse have been vacant for about a year. The site is one of many the city of Fergus Falls has been promoting to potential buyers in an effort to re-ignite commerce in the area.
Although a number of parties have toured the site and shown interest, Stanislawski said no offers have been made, and the property remains in the hands of State Bank and Trust.
“It’s a good place for a business and a good place to create some jobs,” he said.
The site is an industrial zone on about eight acres of land. The main building is about 49,000 square feet, the west building is 16,000 square feet, and the east building is 6,000 square feet, with space for up to four loading docks.
All buildings have 6-inch concrete floors, alarm systems on every door and opening and cameras throughout the property. The parking lot accommodates 30 to 40 vehicles, with easy semitruck access and turnaround.
The Checkers site is just one location of several in the city that the Fergus Falls Economic Improvement Commission has been promoting, trying to spark the interest of potential businesses to provide economic growth and job creation in the area. Another industrial zone facility, with 15,000 square feet of manufacturing space, about 1,000 square feet of office space and 100 square feet of storage space is available at 1010 Weyrens Road on about five acres of land.
Still around a dozen commercial and retail properties are available in the city, including rental spaces next to Ben Franklin’s, spaces downtown on Lincoln Avenue, inside WestRidge Mall and the vacant mill elevator on West Stanton.
“We know there’s a sense of urgency to get a business re-established,” Stanislawski said. “As far as facilities in our community, we’re constantly alert to those and try to promote those to the broader region for new business possibilities, and in this economy things take longer perhaps, but it is what it is.”
For more information on the Checkers site, and to see land and buildings available, visit www.ffeic.org.
