|
| |
|
June 1, 2006
 |
ALLETE Properties announces $52.5 million sales agreement
Infrastructure construction continues at ALLETE Properties'
Town Center at Palm Coast development.
ALLETE Properties announced its largest real estate transaction ever on May 4 when it released details of a $52.5 million sale of residential land at its Palm Coast Park development in northeast Florida.
The buyer is a subsidiary of one of the nation’s leading real estate services companies, Lowe Enterprises, which plans to create an upscale residential golf course community on the property.
Tentatively named Sawmill at the Park, the development will include 1,459 residential housing units, a championship golf course and neighborhood retail and office space, along with a community park and school site.
“Lowe Enterprises, with its strong reputation as a leader in resort community development, will be an excellent addition to the Palm Coast Park project,” said Laura Holquist, president of ALLETE Properties. “This development will greatly enhance the value of surrounding commercial and residential property we own.”
Under the contract, land will be purchased by Lowe in four phases, with closings to occur in 2007 through 2009. ALLETE Properties will also have the opportunity to receive participation revenue as part of the sales agreement.
Palm Coast Park is located in Flagler County, Fla., which was recently recognized as the fastest growing county percentage-wise in the country for the second consecutive year. The project is a 4,700-acre mixed-use, planned development that, at build out, is expected to include 3,600 residential units and 3.2 million square feet of commercial space.
Palm Coast Park is one of three major real estate development projects that ALLETE Properties currently has under way in northeast Florida. Other projects include Town Center at Palm Coast and Ormond Crossings.
Construction of utilities, roads, drainage ponds and other infrastructure development continues at Town Center. Work on the first retail structure in the 1,500-acre development – a Publix grocery store – is under way.
Palm Coast Park, Town Center and Ormond Crossings account for more than 12,000 acres and approximately three-fourths of ALLETE Properties’ Florida land inventory.
|
|
Dear Shareholder |
For those of you who attended our annual meeting of shareholders in Duluth May 9, thanks a lot for coming. During the business portion of the meeting, we elected a new director, Jim Hoolihan, who we believe will be an outstanding contributor to our board for years to come. A brief biography of Jim appears in this newsletter.
In the meeting, we reaffirmed ALLETE’s longstanding commitment to the environment. We announced details of an ambitious program to significantly reduce emissions from our Boswell 3 generating unit (see article elsewhere on this page).
I’d like to call your attention to an article that appears in the May 2006 issue of Better Investing Magazine. ALLETE is featured in the magazine as a “Five Years Ago Stock to Study.” The article explains that in the five-year period ending Jan. 31, 2006, ALLETE returned 101 percent, including dividends and assuming retention of shares received in the ADESA spin-off through that date. You can view the article through a link on the Investors page of www.ALLETE.com.
Have a great summer, and thanks again for your investment in ALLETE.
Sincerely,
Don Shippar
Chief Executive Officer
|
|
|
 |
Plan to cut Boswell emissions detailed at Annual Meeting
Minnesota Power plans to reduce mercury emissions by up to 90 percent and cut nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 80 percent at its Boswell 3 generating unit in Cohasset, Minn.
Estimated to cost nearly $200 million, the air emission control upgrade was announced May 9 at ALLETE’s annual meeting of shareholders.
The planned emission reduction installations would address new requirements developed under Environmental Protection Agency rules dealing with interstate air quality, mercury reduction and regional haze.
Minnesota Power anticipates that costs for the Boswell 3 emission retrofit will be recovered from customers on a current basis, subject to approval by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC). Minnesota Power plans to make a filing to the MPUC for current cost recovery on the Boswell 3 project later this year.
The existing statutory option for utility cost recovery on environmental retrofit projects was extended from 2006 to 2013 in emission reduction legislation recently passed unanimously by the Minnesota Legislature. The statutory option includes current recovery for capital costs, return on investment, a cash return on construction work in progress and associated operating and maintenance costs. This legislation is anticipated to be signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the very near future.
At 350 megawatts, Boswell 3 is the second-largest electric generator operated by Minnesota Power, a division of ALLETE. The initiative is the utility’s second major proposal to reduce air emissions from its generating stations. In October 2005, Minnesota Power announced a $60 million Arrowhead Regional Emission Abatement (AREA) Plan to significantly reduce air emissions at its Laskin and Taconite Harbor facilities. Like AREA, the Boswell 3 plans are subject to state permitting and regulatory approvals.
Minnesota Power utilizes extensive emission reduction technology at all its coal-based facilities and already operates at 70 percent below existing air emission requirements. The new emission reduction installations at Boswell 3 would address new requirements, which take effect over the next several years.
In its Boswell 3 proposal, Minnesota Power would eliminate nearly all particulate matter emissions by installing a baghouse, while reducing mercury emissions using activated carbon technology in combination with the baghouse. A wet flue gas desulfurization scrubber would be employed to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. Nitrogen oxides would be reduced by installing low-NOx burners and selective catalytic reduction.
With permit approvals from the MPCA, construction on the Boswell Unit 3 emission reduction retrofit is planned to begin in 2007 and be completed by year-end 2009.
|
|
|
Grand Rapids civic leader joins board of directors
Jim Hoolihan
About 800 shareholders attended the ALLETE Annual Meeting May 9 to help elect a 10-person board that includes a new director, Jim Hoolihan.
Hoolihan, 53, is a business and civic leader from Grand Rapids, Minn. He is president of Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation and a former three-term mayor of Grand Rapids.Prior to joining the Blandin Foundation in 2004, Hoolihan was president of Industrial Lubricants Company, and Can-Jer, a Grand Rapids-based company providing industrial supplies and services to the logging, railroad, taconite and coal-mining industries.
Hoolihan holds a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law (1979), masters of business degree from the University of Minnesota (1978) and bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame (1975). He graduated from Grand Rapids High School in 1971. |
Ground broken for new North Dakota wind farm
Paul Johnson of Minnesota Power, BNI Coal President Mike Hummel, ALLETE CEO Don Shippar and ALLETE Senior Vice President Dave McMillan attended a wind farm groundbreaking ceremony near Center, N.D.
Minnesota Power officials, representatives of FPL Energy and many dignitaries attended a ground breaking ceremony near Center, N.D., April 19 to signal the start of construction of a 50.6-megawatt wind generation facility. The Oliver Wind Energy Center will be owned and operated by FPL Energy;
Minnesota Power will buy the output of the wind farm, which will be the biggest in North Dakota.
Among those on hand for the ground breaking were ALLETE CEO Don Shippar, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-D.), Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-D.) and FPL Energy Vice President Mike O’Sullivan. The new wind farm, expected to be completed this year, will be capable of generating enough electricity to power 16,000 homes. Construction
of the 22 wind turbines, each 262 feet tall to the center of the blade hub, will begin this spring. |
The statements contained in this newsletter and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this newsletter that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
Shareholder Services ALLETE • 30 West Superior Street • Duluth, MN 55802-2093 • 218-723-3974 or 1-800-535-3056
E-mail: shareholder@ALLETE.com |
|
|
