It is the most talked about building project in Austin’s recent history.

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

It is the most talked about building project in Austin’s recent history.

It is also a godsend, some people say, for the greater downtown business district.

Hormel Corporate Office South changes everything along Main Street North.

Not only does it look like the Taj Mahal of Main Street North, but it could add life to the local economy in the tourism dollars spent at a retail center, museum and food court sharing an abandoned office building with corporate departments.

"We’ve been able to call Austin our home for 109 years," Hormel’s V. Allan Krejci said. "It’s a good opportunity for us to add something more to this community to stabilize our presence here and to grow as well."

The Hormel Foods Corp. project is on schedule and already a few employees have moved their offices there.

Krejci, Hormel’s vice president for public relations, guided reporters through the new Hormel Corporate Office South on Tuesday for a glimpse of the office area.

"Ultimately, we will have 170 people in this facility when the renovation is complete," Krejci said. "Twenty-six of our engineers moved in last Friday. That includes architectural staff, people involved in electrical work, mechanical work and refrigeration and areas that are so important to our company. Twelve more are scheduled to move in during the course of this week."

Following the Hormel Foods’ engineering staff, the company’s logistics and transportation department, consumer affairs, employee benefits, payroll and the systems department will move into the new Hormel Corporate Office South location on a staggered basis in the remaining weeks of the year.

The employees will come from the Hormel Foods corporate offices as well as the US Bank Austin building.

"We will ultimately do some renovation work in the corporate offices and develop some additional office space for other employees," Krejci said.

"What Corporate Office South does is twofold," Krejci said. "It gives us an expanded area to provide wonderful office accommodations in a wonderful office environment for our employees."

"Also, it gives us the opportunity of taking advantage of some space that has opened up in our original corporate offices to allow us to manage our growth and move people as needed," he said. "I’m excited because so much of the Austin community really has been very glowing in their comments about the renovation work. We’re excited by the fact that it is going to be a big improvement for the North Main Street area.

"First and foremost, it was needed for us to operate our business. The fact that we can find a facility that is going to allow us to do that and also to beautify this area and add to the Austin community enhances our investment."

The Joseph Co. is the project’s general contractor. The exterior of the former Kmart store has been completely reconstructed to give an "old-market feeling" to the building.

The building’s brick facade and decorative windows compete for attention with an attractive landscaping plan for the 4.7-acre site.

Paulsen Architectural Design of Mankato was the primary architectural and design firm for the project. Facilities Systems Inc. of Plymouth was responsible for the interior plan.

A 16,650-square-foot museum will include a large retail area and food court that Krejci expects will make the downtown location a destination for tourists.

The retail center is expected to open next spring followed by the museum in midsummer.

Only a week ago, Hormel Foods announced a major multimillion-dollar expansion to include a distribution center at Dayton, Ohio.

The current fiscal year ends in two weeks for Hormel Foods and the word "exciting" applies or so it seems to both the Corporate Office South project as well as the Ohio expansion and possibly, the company’s sales and earnings performance this year.

"It is an exciting time for us," Krejci said. "We have our senior executive staff who have identified a number of strategic initiatives that we have been able to follow through very nicely and we’re on target and, hopefully, on plan to be able to record another record year."