County loans Lindstrom funds to help raze downtown building

Lindstrom Mayor Keith Carlson and City Administrator John Olinger successfully pled the city’s case and walked out of last week’s County HRA/EDA meeting with a zero interest loan for $135,000. The funds will be used to acquire and remove a deteriorating wood frame structure, the “Holmquist” building, between the east and west bound lanes of Highway 8 in downtown. It was originally built for warehousing goods being shipped on the rail line through town in the late 1800s. Mayor Carlson said it has been determined the city needs to eradicate the “blight” created by the structure in describing the city’s plans for the site at the county HRA/EDA meeting last week.

The zero interest loan is to be paid off at $5,000 annually for the first five years. The expectation is the site will sell before the five years is passed, and if not the city and county will sit down and review the payment schedule. The city also has about $20,000 set aside for site work, Olinger said. His aim is to prepare a ready-to-develop lot and sell it. “We are seeing some interest” in downtown area development activity, he told the HRA/EDA members. Lindstrom recently razed a large residence just east of this project site, also on First Ave., and there’s been some interest in purchase of that lot already, Olinger added.