Old Alco building purchased
Buyer’s retail ties a promising sign?
Staff writer
Hillsboro might soon gain a new farm equipment supplier at the former Alco building, if past behavior of the building’s buyer is any indication.
Next Generation Properties of Nebraska is a limited liability corporation with the same headquarters address in Sioux City, Iowa, as farm equipment retailer Bomgaars Supply. Next Gen Properties purchased land in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, in 2014 and built a Bomgaars equipment retailer there.
Hillsboro economic development director Anthony Roy learned in March that a company involved in retail was interested in buying the Alco building, but he had limited knowledge of the situation.
The purchase is the second building on Western Heights Circle to come under new ownership since late August. The former Heartland Foods building was bought by Barkman Honey to be used as a warehouse.
The Alco building won’t need zoning changes to be used as a retail location, unlike the Heartland Foods building that needed a new permit because its first zoning permit was for use as a retailer instead of a warehouse.
Hillsboro’s former Dollar General building, just southwest, is the last unfilled building in that area, but Roy is hopeful it soon will be bought as well.
“I’ve been here a little over three years, and there has been interest several times,” he said. “I think this one right now is most likely to happen, but we’ll see how that all pans out. I’m hopeful that by the beginning of next year they’ll all have somebody in them.”