Williston development continues to ease the housing crunch

A blighted trailer park can become a master planned oil industry housing complex in a vision offered to the City of Williston by Mike Marcil of the Marcil Group of Fargo. "We tend to think onesies-twosies in North Dakota, when we should be thinking master planned developments," Marcil said Tuesday. The Williston City Commission Tuesday night took the first step toward making Marcil's vision a reality, by agreeing to negotiate a purchase agreement on 17.7 acres of the former Cimarron Trailer Park. The commission set a deadline of June 20 for the negotiations. The deal is contingent on the construction of at least two more 36-plex apartment buildings like the one opening this month in Marcil's Bakken Heights, bringing to 144 the total number of units through this phase of the project. "We got the idea because we built a senior living facility just like this in Fargo," Marcil said, but he sees the concept as totally adaptable to the unique needs of oil service companies who more and more are having to provide housing as an incentive to attract workers. Ultimately, Marcil envisions up to 5 phases and a total of as many as 360 apartments, including a public community center including food services, recreation, entertainment and social spaces, to name but a few amenities. These would be luxury apartments, fully furnished, with maid service. His vision would cater exclusively to the needs of oil field service companies willing to fix the costs of housing for their workers by signing master leases of five years. "It's a city within a city. Not a sequestered city, but an industry supported city." Such a concept is not unprecedented. Marcil points out that oil companies are accustomed to moving into remote areas in other parts of the world and literally raising cities out of sand. The beauty of Marcil's plan, as he envisions it, is that industry bears much of the burden for helping to develop housing, instead of local or state government. "The industry needs to be financially committed to those units in order for us to make the investment," he said. In exchange, he would like to see the state offer a tax credit for energy service companies who partner on projects that help expand the stock of housing in North Dakota. He believes such a project will relieve the inflationary stress on the local housing market and workers who aren't making oil field wages, by meeting a pent up demand. "This is Texas-style vision. We're talking about fundamentally changing the landscape and economy of western North Dakota," Marcil said. "We can't do this piece-meal." The purchase price is $156,477, which is equal to the price per square foot agreed upon for the purchase of Sand Creek Trailer Park last year. Marcil estimates the cost of development of the next two 36-plex apartments at up to $6 million. He would remove the old unusable infrastructure in the old trailer park and install new utilities, water, sewer and pavement. The sale of the land is contingent upon the project qualifying for tax increment financing. Tax increment financing is not a tax exemption, however the taxes paid on the property would go toward improvement on the site for a limited period of time. Once the improvements are paid off, local government entities would begin receiving much greater revenues than they would have without the project. The property is generating no tax income now. The commission agreed to negotiate the final terms of the agreement by June 20, which may include a limited amount of tax increment financing. The commission also agreed to request proposals from other companies for the development of the remaining 60 acres of the Cimarron Trailer Park, with specific details of the request to be ironed out by the June 24 commission meeting. "Since Build Williston Day we've had a great deal of interest from developers. Hopefully this RFP will provide for a mix of housing solutions for the community," said Tom Rolfstad, economic development director.

Williston Grows to the West

So much is happening in the way of industrial development in Williston, it's hard to keep up. But when one local realtor stopped to consider this week, he counted five new buildings for either new or existing oil field service businesses in the past year, with two more companies on the way. "There's probably more companies coming here than Minot," said Craig McIvor, they just haven't sought out publicity. McIvor has handled the sales of a number of parcels recently, developed by Williston's Abe Owan. Several of the companies have located in a new subdivision in Judson Township, about seven miles west of Williston, referred to commonly as the "Judson Township Industrial Park." "Knight Oil located here last fall," purchasing about 20 acres. They're operating in a 30,000 square foot shop. Quail Tools, a company that rents oil field tools, opened this spring. Pat's Offroad, another oil field service company, which heats water for big facturing jobs, is building in the same area. "Stallion built a new facility," said McIvor, four miles west and 1 mile south of Williston, where they will be moving their operation in September. That area is referred to as the "Stallion Subdvision." Nearby, west of Lindsey Implement, Thomas Tool is beginning groundwork and hopes to start building this month. "These are big companies," McIvor said, and they've all made major investments to do business in Williston. The Sunset Subdivision where Thomas Tool is locating contains 80 acres of commercial and 45 acres of residential land for development, so there's room for growth. None of these companies have sought incentives or public funding of any kind to locate in Williston, McIvor said. McIvor handles the sales of land and buildings, while Owan develops the properties. McIvor said two more companies are on the way, planning to set up shop in the Sunset Subdivision, but representatives for those companies have chosen not to be identified by name at this time.

Sanjel USA has new shop in Williston

Sanjel Has a 26-year history in the oil field service industry in Canada, but it's only recently the company has had a higher profile in Williston. Sanjel USA opened a new 55,000 square foot shop on 15 acres on the east edge of Williston earlier this year. The shop includes eight truck maintenance and repair bays, a truck washing station, wet and dry material storage, and offices. "We plan to have an open house," said Kevin Corcoran, district service line manager, but it's easy to keep putting that off. Could be, they're too busy. Sanjel's Williston team supports all five of Sanjel's service lines, including acidizing, cementing, coiled tubing, fracturing and nitrogen services. The Williston District office is one of six in the United States, servicing the Rocky Mountain Region. The Williston district covers an area from Buffalo, S.D. to Sherwood, N.D., Corcoran said. They employ 55 workers out of the Williston shop, and they need more. Corcoran hesitates to give a starting wage because people move up fast at Sanjel. "The growth is, how fast do you want to move up? " he said. The company recruits across the state and the nation. He encourages people to check out websites like www.rigzone.com, or any one of a half dozen other firms who recruit oil field workers, but he'll also talk to people who walk in the door. The company's website, www.sanjel.com, also has career information. "If they've got a CDL they can come to work," Corcoran said. Any other necessary training is done on the job. Most of Sanjel's jobs involve hauling equipment to oil rig sites, which is why the driving background is so important. Once on site, Sanjel employees conduct the service work necessary with the tools and materials they bring with them. Each rig may be visited at one or more stages during drilling. They might put in surface pipe at 2,100 feet, for example, then come back to install intermediate pipe later. Interest from prospective employees comes from across the nation. "I've got a phone interview with a guy in Pennsylvania tomorrow," Corcoran said last week. Sanjel is a privately owned, Canadian-based firm, founded in Lac Labiche, Alberta. The company has had a presence in Williston since 1999. "The Williston community has been very supportive of our company and operations," said Shawn Reed, vice president of Sanjel USA, in a press release announcing the opening of the Williston District Office. "Williston's location within the Rocky Mountain Region is strategic to our company's operations and has definitely furthered our presence and expansion throughout the region," he added. In the oil field service business himself since 1990, Corcoran sees a bright future ahead at Sanjel USA. "We're going to continue to grow," he said, because there's plenty of work to go around.