The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Jenny Malmanger

    guard site

September 18, 2008

Assessment for guard site in question

Land is already prepared for commercial development

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — The National Guard is eyeing a piece of choice real estate to place a $17.5 million field maintenance shop.

Problem is, the parcel has been prepared for commercial development to the tune of $213,000 — money that developers traditionally pay back to local governments through what’s called a special assessment.

What’s not clear is whether or not the city of Mankato and Blue Earth County, which co-own the site, will get their site work money back. Officials discussed the assessment during a Thursday morning meeting.

The maintenance shop is slated to be built immediately south of the existing armory.

City Manager Pat Hentges suggested the city and county hold off for now on sending a deed for the site to the National Guard and negotiate on the assessment issue at a later date.

Col. Eric Ahlness with the Minnesota National Guard said the guard traditionally asks the Legislature for an appropriation to pay for assessments.

Hentges said the city could pay the assessment out of a development fund if the guard doesn’t pay it.

Almost all of the funding for the building itself will come through the military construction bill, which is now stalled in Congress. At this point, the building is not funded, but that could change this year or in subsequent bills, Ahlness said.

The 61,500-square-foot facility will bring 25 or so jobs to Mankato, and will be responsible for repairing military vehicles, weapons and perhaps electronics and small arms, Ahlness said.

He said the construction of the local facility is an element of the military’s transformation into a more modern and agile force by pushing more capabilities down to lower levels.

The Mankato facility would do maintenance for the Mankato-based 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry and the New Ulm-based 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery. It would also consolidate repair work now performed at several bases in southern Minnesota.

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