I-90 property purchased for Mitchell visitor center

A highly visible corner adjacent to Interstate 90, formerly occupied by a Happy Chef restaurant, has been purchased for the development of an I-90 visitor center.

The Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau has operated a small visitor cabin on a corner of the property for the past 10 years. The purchase of the 1-acre property gives the Chamber of Commerce and CVB the opportunity to develop a higher quality visitor center.

Doug Dailey, president of the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, announced at the Chamber Annual Banquet in January that an enhanced visitor center at I-90 would be a top work priority of the Chamber during 2010. The building has been vacant and the property has been for sale for over two years.

“The image of the Mitchell community from I-90 should not be that of an empty building almost 40 years old," Dailey said Tuesday in a news release.

Bryan Hisel, executive director of the Chamber and Development noted, “This has been a difficult project because of the costs involved. The breakthrough in purchasing the property was when the owner of the property agreed to gift a significant portion of the value of the property to the Mitchell Area Development Corporation. Mitchell Development will lease the property to the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber has an option to purchase all or part of the property. Securing this property allows the Chamber of Commerce and Convention Visitors Bureau to have the best location in Mitchell for a visitor center and to have the greatest impact and benefit for the community.”

For more on this story, see Wednesday's print and online editions of The Daily Republic.

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