WILLMAR—Staff and patients are settling into the new children’s psychiatric hospital that opened earlier this month in Willmar.
The Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services hospital is the only state-owned and -operated facility of its type in Minnesota.
The hospital is designed for Minnesota children 4 to 18 years of age who have complex mental illness and behavioral disorders that are so severe the children cannot be treated in their home communities.
Construction of the $10 million,
WILLMAR—Construction has begun on Willmar’s third Kwik Trip store, this one located in downtown.
The building permit with the city of Willmar says the project is worth $2 million.
Aaron Backman, executive director of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commissioner, said in an email to the West Central Tribune that construction is estimated to be completed by September.
Kwik Trip had always planned on building three stores in Willmar, but delayed building the downtown
WILLMAR—Even though the Willmar Renaissance Zone is still in the planning and vetting process, word has already begun to spread amongst interested parties and developers.
“We’ve had a lot of great feedback and a lot of great interest in the zone,” Willmar Planning and Community Development Director Dave Ramstad recently told members of the Willmar Planning Commission.
The proposed zone would provide a host of economic development incentives to draw developers to the area and perhaps
WILLMAR—If all moves along smoothly, an addition to Willmar Middle School could open as soon as Sept. 1, 2021.
The planned addition would have a larger gym and a small alternative learning center for the school district and a wing for special needs students served by the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative.
Willmar School Board approved the framework of a lease agreement with the cooperative this week. The Board approved the document unanimously.
Superintendent Jeff Holm said the document
SPICER—Brand new, pint-sized tables and chairs, books, cribs and colorful toys were unpacked from boxes Monday, and in a mad dash against the clock, were put in place in the new child care center in Spicer in time for a ribbon-cutting Thursday morning.
A collective “whew” could be heard by the volunteers and staff from the Kandiyohi County Area YMCA who have been involved with the fast-paced project to create a new day care facility to help meet a serious shortage of child care in the county.
Located
WILLMAR—Three local option sales tax projects now have a leader. Marcus Construction was hired by the Willmar City Council to act as the construction manager at risk for the new recreation fields and event center near the Willmar Civic Center and for improvements at the Swansson Field Recreational Complex.
“We are honored and really excited to get to work on these very important projects,” said Jim Bach of Marcus Construction at the Nov. 4 City Council meeting.
The fee for Marcus Construction’s
WILLMAR—The Willmar School Board has taken another step toward a potential addition at Willmar Middle School.
School district officials have been meeting with Southwest West Central Service Cooperative since summer about working together to build an addition at the school. It would include an alternative learning center and a new gymnasium for the middle school and a facility for special education students with high needs to be operated by the cooperative.
The School Board voted this week to seek
Late in 2018, Willmar City Planner, Sarah Swedburg, published another episode of “the Buzz”. In this episode, Sarah talks about several projects taking place in our community.
Co-Op Credit Union
Co-Op Credit Union is located on the corner of 5th street and 19th avenue. Construction of this project is underway and is scheduled to be completed in late Spring of 2019.
First Street Station
First Street Station is a 4-unit strip mall located on the old Dairy Queen on First Street. Weather
WILLMAR—Construction is scheduled to begin this spring on the first major market-rate housing project to be built in Willmar for several years. Over the past week, both the Willmar Planning Commission and the Willmar City Council made decisions that significantly move the housing project forward.
The multi-family housing complex, which will be owned and managed by JH LLC of Fergus Falls, is planned to have four, 72-unit apartment buildings located on 15 acres along the west side of Kandiyohi County
WILLMAR—One of the more pressing projects on Willmar’s to-do list has been the refrigeration system at the Willmar Civic Center. The Willmar City Council approved $2.6 million in the 2018 capital improvement project for a new system to create ice for the two arenas, but no firm decisions have been made on how to fund the project or what kind of system will be installed.
“What we need to do tonight is have a discussion on the path we are going to take on the refrigeration project,”
