NWC purchases adjoining property

Northwestern College has reached an agreement to purchase more than six acres that adjoin the southwest portion of the campus from Alceco.

The property, just west of the Rowenhorst Student Center, currently houses Alceco’s Orange City operations and includes a grain elevator, former feed mill, offices, Cenex convenience store and storage sheds. Activities at the Orange City site, operated by Ag Partners—a joint venture between Alceco and Cargill—will be consolidated with Alceco’s Alton facilities, which include a two-million bushel grain storage expansion that was completed last summer. The contract calls for Northwestern to take possession of the property on April 1.

“We are excited to announce this acquisition,” said Greg Christy, Northwestern’s president. “This property offers us the opportunity to reconsider future expansion, and it comes as we have recently developed a new campus master plan. The transaction is mutually beneficial to both Northwestern and Alceco, and company officials have been great to work with throughout our negotiations.”

Dan De Jong, vice president of western operations for Ag Partners, said the aging Orange City grain elevator doesn’t meet customers’ needs, with a receiving capacity per hour seven times slower than the newer elevator in Alton. In addition, he cited the safety benefits of closing the Orange City operation for students at the nearby college and the improved traffic flow through campus that will result.

Ag Partners operates 17 facilities throughout Iowa, including grain elevators, retail agronomy outlets and feed mills. Its headquarters are in Albert City, Iowa. Northwestern College is a Christian college of more than 1,200 students in Orange City, Iowa. Rated the nation’s sixth-best baccalaureate college by Washington Monthly and a top-10 Midwestern college by U.S. News & World Report magazine, Northwestern provides an education that combines academic rigor with a faith perspective.