Eagan City Officials Meet With Possible Lockheed Martin Purchaser

Several Eagan city officials met last week with members of CSM Corporation, the company that is in the due diligence stage of purchasing Lockheed Martin's 51.25- acre property.

The meeting was scheduled to give the CSM team an opportunity to meet our group, City Administrator Tom Hedges said.

"We do this on a regular basis with large developers," Hedges added.

CSM had a lot of questions regarding different processes and infrastructure, including zoning, transportation, water and sewer services and future easements.

"My purpose is to share with them existing research [and studies]," Hedges said. "It was a very technical discussion, in that regard."

"We wanted to gain clarity [on what the] City of Eagan's strategic plans are," Tom Palmquist, CSM's vice president of commercial development, said.

Palmquist said the city obviously has their set of goals, as does CSM, and the company wants to work together with the city to achieve them.

"We want to continue to establish dialogue [with the city] to begin to vet these goals out," he added.

According to Hedges, CSM gave no application, did not bring with them any plans and did not share the nature of what business or businesses would possibly move-in or be developed at Lockheed Martin's location.

In addition, there was no discussion on the city's intentions of building or purchasing property for a colocation data center (or major telecommunications hub).

"We are anxious to work with [CSM]," Hedges said. "We don't know a lot until we get an application."

Palmquist said CSM Equities will be scheduling regular meetings with the city to further define site planning efforts and possible uses.

CSM Corp. already owns three properties in Eagan: Waters Business Park, and SpringHill and TownePlace suites. CSM is scheduled to close on the 623,000 square foot property this summer and, according to CSM Corp., Lockheed Martin will continue "to occupy the space under a lease agreement until the final consolidation and transition of its operations in the spring of 2013."