Renovation of old ALCO building nearly done

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

McCOOK, Neb. -- A renovation project converting the former McCook ALCO building into an agricultural lab is nearing completion, thanks to assistance from state and local tax dollars.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development announced in April a $297,060 grant awarded to the McCook Economic Development Corp. for purchase of the vacant ALCO building and assistance in relocating American Agricultural Laboratory, Inc. MEDC subsequently approved an additional $5,000 grant from the city's sales tax funded facade program and is in the process of approving a $75,000 loan from McCook's Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund.

MEDC Director Rex Nelson praised the project Monday as part of the Citizen's Advisory Committee quarterly recap of activities presented to the McCook City Council.

Nelson said sales tax funds hadn't yet been invested in the project but the facade grant was approved and paperwork for the loan was being processed. He said the renovation project was nearly complete and some soil samples were already being processed at the new building.

"They are just within days of being fully moved over to a new facility. That's exciting. It's let them expand and hire some new people, add some good paying jobs. Very successful project," he said.

The facade funds will be part of an exterior makeover Nelson estimated to exceed $60,000 in cost.

Loan details weren't discussed other than Nelson acknowledging the application and saying he didn't have a timeframe for how long it would take to process the paperwork.

Guidelines for the city's revolving loan fund indicate the interest rate will be negotiated on an individual basis and is usually one-half of the lending rate for the project at a traditional banking source. Terms of the loan are capped at 10 years and cannot exceed more than 50 percent of the applicants total project costs.

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  • Do not forget retention of 13 good jobs and the addition of five new ones!!! Thanks Nebraska Dept. of Economics and our local MEDC. The economic plan we have is working.

    -- Posted by dennis on Wed, Feb 3, 2016, at 4:19 PM
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