Kiger's Notebook

The rise of The Kingdom…Buffet

It looks like the Kingdom Buffet is moving closer toward opening in the River Center Plaza in northwest Rochester.

On Monday, a temporary banner was draped on the mall sign saying it is coming soon.

By Tuesday, a permanent addition to the sign was up.

The cardboard boxes are still on the outside statues and Chinese newspapers still cover the windows, but it seems to be moving forward.

The owners of the Hunan Garden restaurant are behind this project, which will be a second location for them. They have lined up 8,000-square-feet in two empty storefronts.

This means all of the spaces in the strip starting with Fiesta and ending with Jimmy Jam's are full.

Of course, the former Western Digital and NRI space as well as the condemned movie theater space are still sitting empty.

LeRoy biz + Blooming Prairie

Word is that WB Enterprises Inc., which builds things like wireless towers is picking up stakes in LeRoy and moving to Blooming Prairie.

That's about 30 jobs.

WB's new building is under construction.

I'll have mor eon this soon.

First State bank pres resigns

Here's some from a piece I have in the July 4th issue:

First State Bank Minnesota in LeRoy is under new leadership this week after its president abruptly resigned.

Bank President Gerald Payne resigned Friday. He did not return messages Tuesday asking for comment.

“Everything is confidential at this point” in regards to the resignation, says Polly Glynn, the interim bank president. “Everything will come out eventually.”

In the mean, Glynn stressed that the bank’s finances are secure and the facility is still running smoothly.

“Our mission has not changed. The only thing that has changed is that Gerald Payne is not at his desk,” she said.

First State, which has 20 employees in LeRoy and at a Spring Valley branch, has assets totaling $52 million.