Pump it up: Arrowwood Prairie Co-op replaces tanks, moves office to new location

There has been a flurry of activity surrounding Arrowwood Prairie Co-op, both in front of the convenience store in Carrington and at its corporate offices.

An underground tank replacement project at the Cenex C-Store is nearing completion, and Arrowwood has also relocated their office to a new space at the former High Plains Equipment dealership building on the southeast corner of the Highways 52-281/200 intersection.

General Manager Paul Klosterman says the construction activity at the store was sorely needed.

"They started around the second week of June," said Klosterman. "We had to put in new overspill containment on the underground tanks, and had to break through the cement to do it."

The tanks were originally installed in 1994, and past their usable lifespan, he said.

In place of that, five 12,000-gallon tanks were installed on-site. Once that work was completed, dirt fill and concrete pouring began, and pumps are expected to be operational in the next week or two.

Klosterman said that the gasoline pumps will feature 87 octane unleaded gas with 10 percent ethanol, 88 octane (15% ethanol), 87 and 91 octane without ethanol, and E-85.

The biggest change will be at the diesel pumps. Most notably, customers will have the opportunity to purchase and fill DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) directly from the pump.

There will also be dyed premium fuel for off-road use, dyed #1 diesel, and #1 clear diesel. Klosterman said that the #2 diesel fuel with a blender pump has been retained from the previous setup.

Arrowwood's project has been overseen by four different firms. Locally, Hagel Construction did the cement work, and Westmor Industries, LLC, out of Morris, Minn. installed the pumps, with sub-contractor work for Westmor done by Braun Electric of Minot and Rose City Canopy, also based in Minnesota.

In the meantime, Arrowood Prairie Co-op's office has moved to their new location, having left their previous building just north of Schulz Plumbing on 11th Avenue North.

Klosterman said that the new building represents a substantial space upgrade from their past home.

"It's 60 [feet] by 180. It's probably three or four times bigger than what we had," he said.

Arrowwood has been at their building since "the beginning of July," said Klosterman, and is in the process of future expansion.

"The new building will be for chemical storage and seed, and we'll do our repair work over there too," he said.

At the moment, Arrowwood Prairie Co-op is in the process of trying to sell their old building on 11th Avenue.