Belle Plaine CSD to transform Weeda Auction building into bus facility

The Belle Plaine Community School District has finalized agreements to purchase the Weeda Auction Building located at 505 6th St., Belle Plaine. The district plans to convert the auction building into a bus facility. Currently, the school district utilizes an older building south of the high school for small storage and rents a mechanical facility from Greider’s Depot.

The auction building will provide the school district with a large lot to park buses and other vehicles as well as a much larger indoor facility for mechanical work and storage. By purchasing the property the district saved hundreds of thousands of dollars from the cost of building a new facility. The school architects estimated that building a new bus facility would cost $600,000 to $1,000,000.

Board of education president Val Coffman signed the agreement and had this to say about the new building: “The board of education is very pleased to add the Weeda Auction property to our school district. It is an affordable way to satisfy our immediate need for storage, and it will provide a great space to maintain our bus fleet. This checks off a major priority for our board and BPCSD. We congratulate the Weeda family on their retirement and wish them the very best.”