Kiger's Notebook

Is Holiday taking over Roch.'s SA gas stations? Looks like it

The buzz is that the Med City will have a lot more Holidays in its future, but don't expect any changes to the calendar.

For the past few weeks, folks in the know have been saying that Bloomington, Minn.-based Holiday Station Stores plans to take over the seven SuperAmerica convenience stores in the near future, possibly by the beginning of May.

One version goes even further and says Holiday plans to build two additional new stations here to bring its total of Rochester sites to nine.

Holiday's head office as well as SA's corporate parent, Northern Tier Energy in Ridgefield, Conn., have not been helpful as I've tried to confirm or disprove this high-octane story, which is getting such good mileage at the pumps.

The only response I've received is this email from Christine Carnicelli of Northern Tier, "As a general policy we do not comment on our business operations so we would prefer not to provide any details on this matter."

Nonetheless, evidence is building that Holiday is indeed gearing up to roll into the Rochester market in a big way.

Holiday Station Stores Inc. has filed a permit with the city of Rochester to build a station on the open land at the corner of West Circle Drive Northwest and Valleyhigh Road Northwest. That would put it right next to Ford-Metro Glass and across West Circle from Mayo Clinic's Superior Drive Support Center.

With CostCo's move into the area acting as a catalyst to spur other nearby retail projects, that seems to be a pretty good spot to put a station.

A search on Holiday's website for Rochester locations comes up with the single station at the entrance to the Cub Food Plaza at U.S. 14 and 15th Avenue Southeast.

Holiday took over that station in October 2011. Before that change, Holiday had been absent from this market for five years with its last Med City station closing in January 2006. That one was later transformed into the Beer Bellyz bar, along Civic Center Drive Northwest.

While the website lists only one station, Holiday's list of job openings tells a very different story.

Holiday is taking applications for eight Rochester locations. The addresses match the city's seven SuperAmericas and the one active Holiday station.

This shift might mean a change to the calendars after all.

Mark this spring as the start of the "Great Med City Gas War" between Holiday and Rochester's reigning C-store champ, Kwik Trip.

Flurry of activity at forlorn, orphan lot

So a sharp-eyed reader recently spotted a crew quickly putting up a security fence around the forlorn and often forgotten parking lot without a development, Willow Creek Market at south 48th Street, across U.S. 63 from Shoppes on Maine.

After about six or seven years without any activity, a new fence definitely caught my attention.

When checking it out, i.e. snooping, I spotted some new cars parked in a corner of the lot. When I realized that all of the vehicles were made by Mercedes, the light bulb finally clicked on over my head and this thought bubble soon joined it.

"Hhhmmm... the new Mercedes of Rochester dealership that is getting close to opening across the highway still has its lot full of construction machines. But they would need to be bringing in inventory to prepare for the opening…"

It seems a safe bet that Mercedes is staging its cars on the lonesome orphan lot, while construction wraps up.

Temporary or not, the activity seems positive for the site. Rochester's Hamilton Real Estate is the listing the property these days.

Target boots Rochester's Park-N-Ride program

On Dec. 17, commuters that use Rochester's south Park-N-Ride route will need to drive a little farther before catching the bus. Since 2008, hundreds of weekday commuters — mostly Mayo Clinic employees — have parked their cars in the south Target store's lot and then rode a city bus into the city.

To the city of Rochester's dismay, that arrangement is coming to an end this month. However, the south Wal-Mart store has eagerly pulled up to fill that spot.

So, on Monday, Dec. 17, the four south Park-N-Ride bus routes will pick up passengers in Wal-Mart's lot instead of Target's.

"We really liked the Target location," says Tony Knauer, Rochester's Transit and parking manager. "Since they first asked us to vacate the area in August, we were hoping they would reconsider."

However, Knauer says the city is appreciative of Wal-Mart's willingness to help and how easy they have been to work with.

Given the growing number of people that use the system to get to work without bringing hundreds of additional vehicles into downtown, the city sees the bus service as very valuable. In fact, Knauer says they hope to add yet a second Park-N-Ride location on the south side of the city.

The city did its best to press the case that the Park-N-Ride is a benefit to Target and should continue.

"If you are the merchant, this is a huge thing that only benefits you and doesn't cost you anything," Knauer says.

Rochester showed the company studies that found the 80,000 Park-N-Ride passengers spent an average of $80 at the Target store in 2011. A letter sent directly to Gregg Steinhafel, Target's CEO, failed to get a response.

So why did Target boot the commuters from its lot, after so many years? It's just implementing a company-wide policy that Rochester had been exempt from all this time.

"In exception to company policy and inconsistent with the practice of the rest of the Target stores across the country, the Rochester store has provided parking for 150 commuters from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday since 2008," stated Target spokeswoman Sarah Van Nevel in response to my query.

Why decide to bring the Rochester site into compliance now after so long?

"Over the last four and a half years, the number of park and ride commuters using Target’s parking lot has grown significantly, creating some disruption to our business," says Van Nevel. "We are no longer able to accommodate the park and ride program in Target’s parking lot."

She went on to point out that "Target values its relationship with the City of Rochester" and the company donates thousands of dollars to local charities and schools.

While Target has been clear that this is solely a policy issue, some people in the Med City have been speculating that this might be a sign that the future of the south store might be in question.

Van Nevel says that definitely is not the case and there is no basis for such a rumor.

"I can confirm that Target remains committed to serving our guests in the Rochester community and has no plans to close this store," she says.

Railroad puts brakes on DM&E expansion plan

Here's some from a good piece by my colleague Mike Klein. It looks like the more-than-a-decade battle to keep the DM&E from running more coal through Rochester may have come to an end with a whimper rather than a bang.

Of course, now that silca sand and fraccing is hot, that might become the new coal and be a future reason to ramp up. Life on the rails is unpredictable.

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Canadian Pacific is dropping plans to extend its rail network into the Powder River Basin, abruptly ending Rochester's decades-long fight to stop the increased coal train traffic through town planned as part of that $6 billion plan.

The railroad's announcement this morning will likely be followed by more news, as new CEO Hunter Harrison will be meeting with executives Tuesday to announce plans moving forward, spokesman Ed Greenberg said. The railroad has been reviewing its entire network, he said.

When CP acquired the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern railroad in 2007 for $1.48 billion, it also acquired the option to build a 260-mile extension of its network into coal mines in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Now Canadian Pacific will take a fourth quarter charge of approximately $180 million on its books, on its option to build there.

"It is CP’s intention to defer indefinitely plans to extend its rail network into the PRB coal mines based on continued deterioration in the market for domestic thermal coal, including a sharp deterioration in 2012," the company said.

The low price and increased availability of natural gas has cut into coal usage in recent years.

"We believe it is a prudent decision to defer the network into the Powder River Basin when you consider the long-term prospects of coal," said Canadian Pacific spokesman Ed Greenberg.

Olmsted County Commissioner Ken Brown said the announcement is a "good deal" for Rochester, but he cautioned that Canadian Pacific is trying to sell those tracks, and a new buyer could proceed with the Powder River Basin plan.

"In the future, who knows what could happen," said Brown, who serves on the Rochester Coalition opposing the increased rail traffic. "It could be a long time before anything could happen. It looks like it's not something to worry about imminently. In the future, if they sell it, maybe it will be, but that's down the road."

Right now, Canadian Pacific moves about about two to four trains every 24 hours through the Rochester area with "mixed freight," mainly steel and grain.

Rochester’s history of conflict with DM&E dates to 1998, when the railroad announced its plans to extend its line 260 miles west to coal fields in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The coal-line plan alarmed Rochester-area officials because of the likelihood it would bring increased and heavier, faster traffic through the city.

The Mayo Clinic, the city of Rochester, Olmsted County and the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce teamed up to form the Rochester Coalition to oppose the bypass.

Roch. family cruising along without gasoline

Here's some from the two stories I had today about the Camerons who drive a Honda Civic that runs on compressed natural gas instead of gasoline.

This is a follow-up to Kwik Trip's announcement that it have a CNG pump at its new store on Rochester's 19th Street Northwest.

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At first glance, the Cameron family's 2012 Honda Civic looks the same as any other Civic.

However, this car has never used a single drop of gasoline and is the only one of its kind in Rochester.

A little logo  — "CNG"  — on the trunk tells the story. The car that Karen Cameron drives to work and to take her seventh-grade daughter to school events runs on compressed national gas.

It's the only factory-built model available in the U.S., though a wide selection of large trucks, vans and buses are in made by Ford, General Motors and even McNeilus Trucks in Dodge Center.

Compressed natural gas costs about half of what drivers are paying for a comparable gallon of gasoline. It burns much cleaner, releasing only about a tenth of the carbon emissions into the air that gasoline or diesel does.

CNG is also plentiful in the United States, with a supply that is estimated to last more than 100 years without importing any from other countries.

Those are the aspects that excite Graham Cameron and his son, Ian Cameron, who are both enthusiastic proponents of alternate fuels and technology like geothermal heat pumps and solar power systems.

"But my wife is a different story. She doesn't get into this like Ian and I do," says Graham Cameron. "I'm surprised by how quickly she accepted it. The bottom line is that she loves it."

Karen Cameron acknowledges that buying the car in April wasn't really something she was excited about.

"I was a little bit of a naysayer because of the extra up front costs" — about $6,000 more than a standard Civic plus about $6,000 for the garage fueling system installed by K&S Heating, she says.

Then she started the driving the car. It doesn't feel any different, and it is much quieter than its more plentiful gasoline-burning siblings. It goes 250 miles on a tank of CNG, which the Camerons fill by locking on a nozzle and letting it pump overnight.

Karen Cameron has driven 8,000 to 9,000 miles in the past six months without once filling at gasoline pumps, although she did use a CNG pump in the Twin Cities once.

"It has been great," she says.

Roch's Transportation Tuesday features planes, buses and cars

Looks like Rochester has a Transportation Tuesday underway this week with two events - Allegiant Air's Vote for Vacation campaign and Kwik Trip's seminar about compressed natural gas as a vehicle fuel - both scheduled.

Allegiant Air's "campaign" bus pulled into downtown Rochester late Monday to park near the Peace Plaza in preparation for a morning of light-hearted voting combined with a serious memorial.

Voting for a favorite vacation destination will put people in the running to win four years of free airfare or a free pair of round trip tickets to any Allegiant destination.

The first 100 voters will be given a $21.60 "tax break" toward their next Allegiant vacation. That's about the equivalent of how much government taxes and fees add to the cost of a round trip flight.

Since the Allegiant stop in Rochester falls on Sept. 11, Mayor Ardell Brede will speak and lead the crowd in a moment of silence at 7:46 a.m. as the Bell of Honor tolls for those who lost their lives in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Kwik Trip's free seminar about compressed natural gas is then scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m at the Ramada Inn Hotel & Conference Center, 1517 16th St. S.W., Rochester.

Kwik Trip will introduce compressed natural gas, or CNG, as a fueling option in Rochester at the new station being built along 19th Street Northwest by CostCo's new store.

Storm Chasers' Dominator blowing into Roch.

The Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers" regularly drive their Dominator vehicle through crazy weather even wilder than Rochester saw last night.

Local fans will have a chance to check out the Dominator on Thursday (tomorrow) when Line-X of Rochester brings the tank-like vehicle to Rochester for an appearance. Line-X offers special spray-on protective coatings, primarily to protect truck beds.

Look for the Dominator to be parked on display in the parking lot of Andy's Liquor at 3125 Wellner Drive, near Whistle Binkie's North.

Local Line-X owner Chris Mertesdorf says the Dominator should be out there by 10 a.m. and should be out there until at least 4:30 p.m.

The Dominator is designed to plow through storms with winds up to 200 mph. The winds that hit Rochester last night topped out at just a little more than 70 mph.

The whole vehicle is covered with Line-X's XS-650 spray-on protective coating.

Kwik Trip to bring natural gas to new Roch. station

Here's some from my piece today about CNG coming to Rochester. Thanks to the intrepid Todd Schwartz for the Kwik Trip construction pic.

A new fuel choice for drivers — compressed natural gas — is on its way to Rochester pumps.

Kwik Trip plans to introduce compressed natural gas, or CNG, as an option at the station being built along 19th Street Northwest by CostCo's new store.

"We think this is the fuel of the future," says Ruanna Hayes, Kwik Trip's alternative fuels project coordinator.

To introduce CNG here, Kwik Trip is sponsoring a public information seminar on Sept. 11 with a panel discussion and speakers from area companies like McNeilus Truck and Nuss Truck & Equipment. Converting vehicles, return on investment, safety and other topics will be discussed.

The CNG seminar is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m on Sept. 11 at the Ramada of Rochester at 1517 16th St. S.W. For more information or to register to attend, call 1-855-710-300 or send email to KTBeyondGreen@kwiktrip.com.

"We thought this would be a good way for us to reach out to our customers in the Rochester area," says Hayes. "This is a way to educate people and show that CNG can be a practical solution for fleet use and also for personal use."

Kwik Trip expects its new 19th Street station to open in mid-November. The CNG dispenser will be paired with the diesel pumps at a heavy-duty fueling island apart from the gas pumps.

CNG is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel. Currently, Kwik Trip sells it for between $1.59 to $1.79, says Hayes. That's about $2 cheaper than a gallon of gasoline.

It also produces less emissions than standard fuels and is said to create less wear on engines. However, CNG vehicles cost significantly more than standard ones.

The U.S. Dept. of Energy  estimates that about 112,000 vehicles on U.S. roads run on CNG. That number has been growing by about 3.7 percent a year, since 2000.

Large fleet vehicles, like garbage trucks, buses, cement mixers and shuttle vans, are currently the majority of vehicles adapted to use natural gas. Honda is the only car maker currently selling a model that uses CNG. However, some passenger cars and vans can be converted to use it.

Tire centers change ownership

To give his tire business more traction in this region, Jerry Bauer of Bauer Built Inc. bought two Hanson Tire Service centers this week.

On Monday, the Durand, Wis.-based Bauer Built took over Hanson Tire's original headquarters in LeRoy along with a location in Preston. While the center will eventually change names, they will remain under the Hanson Tire name for now.

"Our normal trend is to transition places we acquire over to the Bauer Built name sooner than later, but we're keeping these as Hanson Tire for a while," Bauer says. "They've been a very successful business, since 1953."

Almost all of Hanson's 20 employees are staying on under the new owner. Former owners Randy Eastvold and Greg Rollins, along with Ron Eastvold, are helping with the transition.

Bauer declined to discuss the financial terms of the acquisition.

These additions bring the tally of Bauer Built tire centers to 31, including ones in Rochester, Red Wing and Albert Lea. They also have seven Michelin retread plants, three wheel refinishing facilities and a bulk petroleum operation.

A second generation, family-owned business, Bauer Built was  founded by Sam Bauer in 1944.

Why add the LeRoy and Preston centers to the company's extension portfolio of facilities?

"We are always looking for going concerns that are profitable. They have many comparable products and they are very strong in agriculture," he says. "They will help us grow in that area."

Another reason is obvious from a quick look at the map. Bauer has locations surrounding the new additions.

"Geographically, they will fit in well and fill in some voids for us," he says.

This deal does not have any links to Hanson Tire of Austin, which has a different owner. The same is true of the Hanson Tire in Albert Lea, which has another owner.

Hanson Tire, started by Don and Donna Hanson in 1958, grew to 11 stores at one point. It was then recognized as the largest tractor and truck dealer in the nation.

There was once a Hanson Tire location in Rochester, but no longer.

More RVs roll into Rochester

A new name in RVs and trailers has rolled into Rochester to help people get out of town and on the road.

Fridley-based Hilltop Trailer Sales opened a dealership near the Rochester International Airport on June 1. This is the first time the 61-year-old Hilltop has ever opened a second location, says general sales manager Mike Pearo.

"This is a great opportunity for us," he says. "We've looked at the Rochester market as a good spot to expand for a long time. We're really excited about this."

When Curtis Letsche of Rochester's long-time Curtis Camper Sales recently decided it was time to retire, it opened a door for Hilltop. It is now operating at the former Curtis location at 7050 11th Ave. S.W.

Hilltop sells new Jayco towable RVs, used recreation vehicles, parts and offers full service for trailers and RVs.

Also like Curtis Camper Sales, Hilltop is a family-owned business that was started by his grandfather in 1951. Now in its third generation, Hilltop is owned and operated by Pearo, his two brothers and their father.

The dealership has six on staff but plans to bring the Rochester team up to 10 to 12 employees.

An upgrade of the facilities is also in the works, though that is on the back burner until camper season is over.

Hilltop is not the only RV dealer that saw an opportunity in the Med City. Noble RV, of Owatonna, recently opened its own location between Rochester and Stewartville.

That puts Hilltop's new project very near Noble's brand new dealership. Is there enough recreational vehicle business to go around?

"I think it is a big enough market definitely with room for both us," says Pearo. "Competition is good. They are a good dealer and a good group of people. I think it will a benefit for Rochester and the people of southern Minnesota area to have two additions like Hilltop and Noble there."