Photo courtesy of Lauren Deutz Representatives of Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, the city of Marshall, the Marshall EDA, project architects, and more gathered to lift the first shovelfuls of dirt for the new SWWC office building in Marshall.

dgau@marshallindependent.com

MARSHALL — Southwest West Central Service Cooperative was looking for a new home after the end of their lease on offices in the Market Street mall. Now, they’ve found the spot for a new permanent home.

Last week, representatives of the regional education co-op, the city of Marshall and more gathered to break ground for a new 16,000 square-foot office building.

“It was a fun event. It’s been a long time coming,” said Cliff Carmody, executive director of SWWC.

Carmody said construction on the new office building will begin this summer on land near the corner of London Road and Channel Parkway in Marshall. The project is expected to take about 15 months to complete, he said.

SWWC serves more than 50,000 public and private school students across an 18-county area. The cooperative employs more than 400 people in southwest Minnesota, and about 52 of them would work in the Marshall office building.

The city of Marshall worked with SWWC to purchase city-owned land for the project.

As part of a pre-development agreement, SWWC would buy the land for $1, and use conduit bond financing for construction of the office.