A biodegradable products company is leaving Devils Lake as the city works to attract another tenant for its industrial park building.
BioFiber missed its Sunday deadline to pay back three months of rent, or $18,000, to the city, said Rachel Lindstrom, executive director of the Devils Lake Economic Development Corp. The company, which planned to use cattle manure to make biodegradable products, will be evicted, City Administrator Terry Johnston said.
“Our attorney has been authorized to begin the eviction process,” he said, adding BioFiber has started to move its belongings out of the building.
BioFiber signed a five-year lease with the city in December that allowed it to take over a 130,000-square-foot building in the industrial park. The city-owned building previously belonged to Ultra Green, another biodegradable products company that failed and owed the city $87,000 in unpaid taxes. In exchange for Ultra Green not paying its tax bill, the city took over the building.
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The city didn’t authorize any incentives for BioFiber as it did with Ultra Green, but local leaders plan to take action to recover the lost rent, Johnston said.
