CANBY - If anybody needs a 70 foot-by-175 foot steel frame building, they'll have a chance to pick one up on the cheap on the MinnWest Community and Technical College Canby campus on March 24.
Of course, then they'll have to dismantle and move it.
MinnWest intends to clear the former Diesel Technology building, built in the 1970s, and replace it with green space, according to Lori Voss, vice-president for administration.
"It's considered excess square footage," Voss said. "We're working to get it appraised, then we'll have a minimum bid."
Voss said MinnWest used to offer separate diesel technology and farm diesel programs, which have since merged into a general diesel program and moved into a another building.
"We needed to renovate and wanted to get the program closer to the main building," said Dave Mercer, general repair worker on campus. "That building was used for nothing more than cold storage, in need of renovation, and the state wasn't going to pay for cold storage."
The building is one of several on campus that is heated by geothermal energy. The approximately 200-foot deep wells behind the building will be capped and the college will look into boring a line over to some of the other buildings to use in the future, Mercer said.
The building and much of the currently unused equipment in it will be auctioned off by the Darrell Regnier Auction Company.
"A contractor just gave me a rough idea of what it would cost to take the building down - between $20,000 and $30,000," Regnier said. "It would make somebody an awfully nice shop or shed, but they've got to be able to buy it right away."
After the building is dismantled and moved, college will have to demolish and dispose of the concrete foundation and Sheetrock.
"It's too bad it's going, but it's like having that extra car," Mercer said. "It's nice, but if the state is paying for it, it's other people's money."