City-owned building gets its first tenant

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The former Bosch manufacturing plant in downtown New Richmond is filling back up again.

The New Richmond City Council has contracted with Tom Elbert, a property manager with buildings in River Falls, to take over the duties of leasing and maintaining the city-owned building. He will receive a $500 per month management fee, and when gross lease revenues are $6,250 per month, the fee increases to 8 percent of the total revenues.

At Monday’s regular council meeting, the first lease for the first new business was approved.

ZAR, a Minnesota company that remanufactures copiers and printers, was set to move into the Bosch building on Wednesday, Feb. 10. They will occupy about 1,000 square feet of the 43,560-square-foot facility.

Robert Barbian, Planning and Community Development director, said a second tenant has also shown interest in leasing part of the space.

“We should have another party within the next couple weeks,” he told the council.

The city’s Property Committee also discussed how future leases will work, noting that some businesses may not be acceptable for the facility.

Building Inspector John Frisco said each interested party would be evaluated on a “case by case” basis. As long as the facility is used in a similar way to Bosch, Frisco said there shouldn’t be an issues with businesses moving in.

Property Committee Chairman Fred Horne said that, although the City Council voted to approve the ZAR lease Monday, future leases likely wouldn’t come before the body for approval.

Any business interested in learning more about available space can contact Barbian at 243-0407.

“There’s lots of potential for the building,” Barbian said.

For the complete story, see this week's New Richmond News.

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