What does $1 buy these days? How about a 10.81-acre site for a new national headquarters at the Beacon Bluff Business Center?

That’s exactly what St. Paul-based printing company Vomela Cos. recently got for a single greenback. The St. Paul Port Authority is selling the land to Vomela’s parent company, Camada Limited Partnership, as the site of a consolidated headquarters and production facility.

The land sale is one of two the Port Authority approved on Jan. 23. The Vomela property and another purchased for $1 by Minneapolis-based fabric dome maker Yeadon Fabric Domes were the last parcels available in 46 acres of Beacon Bluff that were once home to the headquarters of 3M Cos.

Vomela has its current headquarters at 274 Fillmore Ave. E. in St. Paul and a production facility just down the street. The two operations will move into a 250,000- to 300,000-square-foot office warehouse the company plans to build on the site, according to Port Authority documents.

Vomela is a national print company with 20 locations in 16 states and British Columbia, according to its website.

Yeadon’s property a block east at the southeast quadrant of Phalen Boulevard and Forest Street will be the site of a 49,000-square-foot office and production facility. The company manufactures fabric domes for athletic facilities. Yeadon will bring about 50 employees to Beacon Bluff.

Both companies will have to pay a bit more in addition to the purchase prices for the land. Vomela must reimburse the Port Authority for $126,000 in redevelopment costs, while Yeadon is on the hook for $35,000, documents show. Vomela must also put up $100,000 in refundable earnest money until it completes construction, while Yeadon will pay $30,000.

Yeadon’s facility will be one of its own air-supported domes, attached to a small office structure, said Joe Gaylord, the company’s chief operating officer. Yeadon will move its entire Twin Cities operation out of leased space in Minneapolis into the Beacon Bluff facility.

“As the company continues to grow, we need a production facility that better meets our needs,” Gaylord said.

The Vomela deal had been years in the making, said Monte Hilleman, the Port Authority’s president of real estate development. The Port Authority had been assisting Vomela in finding an expansion site when the company decided to move to Beacon Bluff.

“This was the first time we got to the finish line with them,” Hilleman said in an interview.

Vomela did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests to comment on its new facility.

The $1 deal has been standard for most of the properties at Beacon Bluff, Hilleman said. The Port Authority requires those buyers to comply with workforce agreements that promise to bring growing employment to the business park. The low-dollar sales are designed to bring jobs to the area, Hilleman said. The Port Authority’s goal is 1,000 workers in Beacon Bluff.

Several parcels with direct access to Phalen Boulevard were sold at market price, including 5.72 acres Minnetonka-based Opus purchased for $996,000 in 2016.

The Vomela property is bounded by Arcade Street, Phalen Boulevard, Minnehaha Avenue and Forest Street. It is the largest “shovel- ready” industrial site in St. Paul and is the largest property in Beacon Bluff, Hilleman said.

The Port Authority began acquiring Beacon Bluff in 2008 when 3M moved the last of its operations to its current headquarters in Maplewood. The Port Authority paid $5.3 million for the property, Hilleman said.

Vomela and Yeadon are expected to start construction this year. Vomela has not yet submitted a development application to the city of St. Paul, he said.

Opus is planning an 85,000-square-foot spec warehouse.

The planned Vomela facility will be used for office and administrative functions, manufacturing of printed products, warehousing and distribution, Port Authority documents show. The company will initially bring 180 employees to the facility and expects to grow to 230 people within 10 years per a workforce agreement with the Port Authority.

Hilleman estimated that Vomela’s construction project will be worth about $20 million. It will be the largest project built in a Port Authority business park since the 1960s, he said.

Camada owns Vomela’s existing 43,700-square-foot headquarters, CoStar shows. The printing company leases 19,170 square feet at the Brown & Bigelow Building at 345 Plato Blvd. E. Vomela identifies that location on its website as 444 Fillmore Ave. E. Founded in 1947, the company has grown through acquisitions since 1990, according to its website. It has acquired 18 companies in that time. In Minnesota, it owns digital and offset printer The Bureau in Maplewood.

When the Vomela, Yeadon,and Opus projects are finished, Beacon Bluff will be home to nine business employing 912 people, Hilleman said. That worker count is expected to grow to more than 1,000 in the coming years.

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Opus plans spec warehouse in Beacon Bluff