Eagan Mayor Provides Updates on Important Matters at Local Business Meeting

Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire visited the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce's Eagan Area Business Council meeting Thursday morning to give an update on several ongoing topics in the city.

Maguire began by discussing Lockheed Martin. He said the city set up ongoing conversations with Lockheed Martin upon finding out about their departure, and that the city is "staying in touch" with the company.

"They've got a really talented group of people over there," Maguire said.

Also, according to Maguire, Lockheed Martin is in the process of interviewing brokers for the sale of the property.

"It's a good location and a good site," he said.

However, the building poses a challenge because of the way it was built specifically for Lockheed Martin.

The city is going to try and be as flexible as it can be, he added. Nevertheless, "It doesn't mean this won't be a challenge," he said. "It takes a long time to fill these buildings if you're not flexible."

Maguire also briefly touched on the city's initiative to invest up to about $2 million in a broadband infrastructure project in Eagan. Currently, all Internet service providers are served by one facility in Minneapolis-called the 511 Building- which serves as a big switching station. All providers services come into the building and then are transmitted out.

According to Hedges, the biggest concern is that it could be quite costly if anything were to ever happen to the building.

"We feel there is a need for a co-location, or another [switching station] location," Hedges said.

The co-location could bring major Internet providers to Chicago and other southern locations as well.

Request for Proposals (RFPs) from companies interested in building a co-location data center in Eagan was due this past Tuesday, and according to City Administrator Tom Hedges, the city is now in the screening process and will interview those chosen for the final three proposals. City Communications Director Tom Garrison has been spearheading and providing research on the project.

Concerning the new 38,000 square foot fire safety center, which will open later this year, Maguire talked about how much the response time will improve when firefighters move to the new station.

"[Fire station No. 2 off of Lone Oak Road] was the furthest from where volunteer firefighters live," he said. "We will now have better response times and business owners insurance rates won't have risks of going up."

The opening of the new fire safety center means the closing of the fire administration building and fire station No. 2. The sale of the both buildings will go to offset the cost of the new approximate $8 million fire safety center, which will lower the bond obligation to the community, according to Hedges.

The two buildings could potentially sell for private-use. The city will look over interested parties' bids and uses first, and rezone the property or properties afterward.