Stearns County just closed on a piece of property in west St. Cloud that will house a new service center. At their board meeting on April 17, the Board of Commissioners voted to purchase the property. Closing was last week. The 12-acre property is located near Mills Fleet Farm, along the Sauk River and adjacent to the Stearns County Park, Miller Landing. Stearns County pursued this spot because of its location. In contrast to the downtown office, most Stearns County residents should be within a 20-minute driving distance of this site, located on the west side of town and right off the freeway. This building will be much more accessible; and the 12-acres allows for plenty of room for parking. At this time, the plan is to locate License Center West, Public Health and Community Corrections staff in this new satellite office since these are all high customer service divisions. Construction plans call for a 45,000 square foot one-level building, but it will be designed and built to handle multiple floors in case more space is needed down the road. Stearns County also purchased enough land to allow for another 45,000 square foot building to be added on to the south if needed in the future. Plans are to break ground for the new building in the spring of next year and hopefully have the service center constructed and ready to open in 2009.
