County may sell part of Rochester’s Ear of Corn water tower site

ROCHESTER – Two years after the last attempt, Olmsted County is once again looking to sell at least part of 11 acres of prime real estate near the county’s fairgrounds.

The Olmsted County Board on Tuesday reviewed an offer for part of the former Seneca Foods plant property just a few blocks south of downtown Rochester, in a closed session. Though county officials declined to comment on the discussions surrounding the offer, they indicated the board is interested in potentially selling part of the plot.

The county by law must publish notice of its intention to sell the property for at least three weeks, but county officials plan to receive potential bids online for 30 days. The Bidding it’s process will likely open within the next two weeks.

“It’s casting a wide net using the systems that we have, given we’re not using an outside broker to help us,” Deputy County Administrator Pete Giesen told the board Tuesday before it went into closed session to discuss negotiations.

The property may go to the highest bidder, but the county board does have leeway to choose a bid commissioners prefer. And county officials say the beloved Ear of Corn former water tower must be kept in place.

The latest round of bidding is more relaxed than Olmsted’s previous efforts in 2022 to sell the land, which involved a much-publicized search for proposals.

Four developers came forward with plans then; the board ultimately chose to work with local firm Titan Development on a mixed-use housing and commercial project that could have included a grocery store and pharmacy. Talks broke down in December 2022 and the board chose not to sell the property, directing county officials to wait for two years before trying again.

The board bought the site for about $5.6 million in 2019 with a use in mind — a transportation hub as part of Rochester’s planned bus rapid transit line. The city shifted gears on its plans in 2020, moving the line northwest of downtown.

Since then, the property has been vacant while Olmsted County demolished the plant, cleaned up the site and renovated the Ear of Corn tower, which sits on the northern part of the parcel. The parcel is east of Broadway Avenue S. between Hwy. 14 and Graham Park.