Clear Lake City Council approves storm sewer materials purchase as part of repurposing of former Five Star Coop property

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake City Council last night approved the purchase of materials as part of a storm sewer improvement project connected to the repurposing of the former Five Star Cooperative property at 2908 Main Avenue.

The city earlier this fall approved a letter of intent with RCP Investments LLC of Mason City as part of their conversion of the property into a dry goods warehouse and distribution center. Greenlee Corrugated Solutions of Jesup, which provides corrugated packaging for large-scale companies, will utilize the 154,000 square foot building, with the anticipation that they will initially employ six to 10 people, with the potential for expansion into a multiple shift operation.

As part of the incentives contained in the letter of intent, the city agreed to participate in storm sewer improvements in the region with up to $125,000 put toward the purchase of piping, with RCP being responsible for the construction of the buried piping as well as the surface water drainage ways. The proposed improvements consist of a combination of about 2000 linear feet of storm sewer, surface water drainage ways and culverts to drain the storm water from that area.

City Administrator Scott Flory says the project will benefit the whole area around that property.  “Storm water not only affected 2809 Main Avenue but a number of other properties kind of in the vicinity, so we kind of view this as a win-win for not only the RCP project but for some of the other projects in the area.”

Flory says RCP has already made a substantial investment in the land.   “I think the opportunity for job growth and increased taxable valuation there, they’ve already basically increased the taxable valuation to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 to $2 million worth of investment, so pretty significant.”

The council approved $121,020 worth of materials from Midwest Pipe Materials and $2860 from County Materials Corporation, for a total of $123,880.