The opening of Marshall’s second Kwik Trip location, at the corner of West Main Street and U.S. Highway 59, will be in November, signs said. New businesses and other developments in Marshall were highlighted on a bus tour held by the Marshall EDA on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — There’s been a lot of development progress in Marshall this year – including some new businesses preparing to open. Marshall’s second Kwik Trip location and a new Marshalls store were among the sights on bus tours hosted by the Marshall Economic Development Authority on Tuesday.

“Kwik Trip is quickly wrapping up,” said Marshall EDA director Lauren Deutz, as the bus passed the former Cattoor’s gas station location at the corner of West Main Street and North U.S. Highway 59. “November 22 is their ribbon-cutting. They’ll be open a few days prior to that.”

Later on the tour, Deutz said Marshalls, the second business planned to move into the former Shopko building in Marshall, would be opening this spring. “It is official. It is happening,” she said.

Deutz answered questions from local residents and talked about ongoing development projects around the city. This was the second year in a row the EDA held bus tours in Marshall. Normally, the events are held every couple of years, Deutz said.

“There are a lot of projects going on right now,” she said. It was good to be able to share that progress with the public, as well as addressing questions and rumors. “It’s important to get accurate information out there,” Deutz said.

Deutz shared a little information about both the Kwik Trip and Marshalls developments. The new Kwik Trip will be a little larger than the gas station and store at the corner of Bruce Street and East College Drive, she said.

“It is a diesel stop. There is a separate diesel canopy so that the trucks will be able to have an easier access,” Deutz said. “One question we get a lot – there is no overnight parking, there is no additional trucker services, showers, things of that nature. And that is because eventually, as it was announced back when they opened their first store, there is a plan for Kwik Trip to have a third location in Marshall which would be a larger truck stop.”

Deutz said Kwik Trip has not identified a site for that third location yet. “They’re looking at a few different options right now.”

Across Marshall, exterior building work was recently completed on the site of a Marshalls store inside part of the former Shopko. “So, now we are doing the handoff to Marshalls corporate, so they will do the interior,” Deutz said. It’s planned for the store to open in April.

There is one remaining commercial space for development inside the old Shopko building. “We are on the dotted line with another retailer” for that space, Deutz said. “We’ve had several different retailers look at that space, but the building owner has really held on to it until they could find somebody who wanted all 32,000 square feet.”

Deutz said she could not share what retailer was interested in the space.

Solugen construction delays

The site of the planned Solugen chemical plant was one stop on Tuesday’s tour. While some development has already taken place, Deutz and Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said completion of the plant might take longer than initially planned.

“Site work, the earth work, has been done,” Byrnes said. “Many of you that have witnessed this starting last spring and summer know that it’s really been built up a lot.”

Solugen, a Houston-based company, chose to come to Marshall partly because of the Archer Daniels Midland corn plant here. Solugen will use dextrose, a kind of sugar produced by the ADM plant, as feedstock to make alternatives to petroleum products. Byrnes said Solugen will purchase about half of the dextrose produced by the ADM plant.

However, Deutz and Byrnes aid the commissioning of the Solugen plant is anticipated to be pushed back to 2027. Due to higher-than-expected construction costs, Solugen was taking a slower and more cost-effective approach, Deutz said. Most of the work is being paused in 2025, and is expected to start up again in 2026.

The Solugen project had received a $213 million loan from the Department of Energy, as well as $15 million from Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Deutz said the Marshall ADM plant has also offered other development opportunities. Last year, ADM completed an expansion project at the Marshall plant. “With that, they were able to double the amount of food and industrial dried starches they’re able to produce here,” Deutz said. “They’re creating a lot of opportunities for us on the EDA side. Their dextrose is gold, literally. So we have a lot of businesses who have reached out to us solely based on that product that they have there. In the next couple years, we’re hopeful that we’ll continue to build some of those over-the-fence partnerships with ADM.”

Housing developments planned

The tour pointed out the sites of a couple of planned apartment complexes in Marshall. A developer from the Brainerd area hopes to build 106 units of market-rate apartments on land located behind the former Shopko building in Marshall.

“They’re working through the closing of the land process,” Deutz said. “So we’re still hopeful we’ll be able to see construction start here in the next couple weeks.”

A second development, which is less further along, is being planned by different developers on land along London Road.

“We are in the final round of scoring with the state of Minnesota for a tax credit housing program,” Deutz said. The proposed development would have 60 units of affordable family housing. “And then the goal of these apartments, they’ll have some education for the tenants, so that they will move them into home ownership.”

If the project is awarded funds by the state, a second phase of the development – 65 units of senior housing – is also proposed for the site.

Yelloh’s farewell

One business Deutz spoke about briefly on the tour was Yelloh, formerly Schwan’s home delivery. This fall, Yelloh announced that it would be shutting down operations in November. Deutz estimated around 50 local employees would be impacted by the closure.

“We’re hopeful that we’re able to retain most of those employees within the community. There’s a lot of needs out there still,” she said. Yelloh only owned one building in Marshall, and there were already some companies who had taken a look at it, she said. “We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get the building sold.”

While Yelloh is closing, “The parent company, Schwan’s, is doing great,” Deutz said. “They still have 650 employees here in Marshall, they’ve got a lot of growth at their facility down in Kansas, and then a facility in Sioux Falls that they’ll be building. So that’s all positive for Marshall.”