At the September 2025 board meeting, the Building Committee brought forward a recommendation to contract with JDH Construction for the demolition of the existing building and construction of a new headquarters building at the current location near Bath. The board voted unanimously to approve the committee’s recommendation.
Board President Nolan Wipf first informed the membership of the deteriorating state of the headquarters building at the 2023 Northern Electric Annual Meeting. The existing building has been serving the cooperative since 1967. The board commissioned an assessment of the building, which revealed many significant issues that needed to be addressed. Building reports were also provided at the 2024 and 2025 annual meetings and in the Cooperative Connections Magazine.
In November of 2023, a building committee was formed and tasked with finding a solution that would provide a facility that is functional and able to serve the cooperative’s needs well into the future. Initially, the committee explored remodeling the existing building and adding an addition. After further investigation, the committee had concerns about the uncertainty related to some of the major issues revealed in the assessment. The committee came back to the board with a recommendation to construct a new building on the existing site. This project only includes the office building; the shop will not be impacted. We worked with CO-OP Architecture to design and develop the plans for the new facility. As stated above, the cooperative will be working with JDH Construction and CO-OP Architecture on the construction of the new facility.
The board and committee did not make the decision to move forward with this project lightly. The committee went through several iterations of the design and also a value engineering process to ensure the best value for the members was achieved. This extensive process allowed NEC to stay under the original budget set forth. As mentioned, we reported on the state of the building and provided updates on the headquarters project at previous meetings. We carefully reviewed and considered various options and determined this option is the best for the cooperative and our members.
Construction is expected to start in November 2025. During the construction phase, headquarters will be temporarily relocated to 2914 Industrial Ave #3, Aberdeen, SD. The phone number will remain the same, 605-225-0310. Starting Oct. 24, 2025, Northern Electric staff will be located at the temporary building. Members will be able to meet with employees and pay their bills at the temporary location.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your board representative. We will continue to give updates on progress or any changes.