Killdeer, North Dakota -- Boom! -- March 1, 2015

Killdeer -- BOOM! The Dickinson Press is reporting:

Years ago, $1 million in private investment in Killdeer, ND, for one year was a big deal, he said. Maybe a single new motel, or a few new houses.

But last year, Killdeer saw more than $20 million in private investment, and it’s on track to hit at least that for 2015. This spring will be a busy one for the city, with a slew of private residential or multi-use developments breaking ground.

The private developments include:

• Gateway Village, with 70 townhomes, a Wyndham Microtel hotel, 125 apartments, a drive-thru food establishment and a sit-down restaurant.
• Killdeer Highlands, three 42-unit apartment buildings and a hotel-restaurant combination. 
• Creekside, more than 150 apartments in eight buildings with views of Gumbo Creek.
• Killdeer 110, a mix of condominiums, townhomes and single-family homes.

despite anxiety over oil prices, the city is not seeing a slowdown — in traffic through town or in development. Killdeer is one of the last Bakken boomtowns to get its truck bypass, so tanker trucks still rumble through Central Avenue — the city’s main street and a part of state Highway 22 — past a pharmacy, banks, churches and the school.

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Samira Surani In Dickinson

For the archives. I'm not so much interested in this particular story as the name of the buyer. Will place the story here for an easier google search. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The tallest building in downtown Dickinson has new owners, and with the changeover could come a revitalized appearance.

Though Home and Land Company, the Dickinson real estate company handling the sale, lists the contract as pending on its website, a contract-for-deed sale for the six-story Jordheim Plaza building — formerly the old Ivanhoe Inn — was finalized Feb. 20 when it changed hands from Dickinson’s Jordheim family to Samira Surani.

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Sanjel Closes Operations in Billings, MT

For the archives. I can't remember if I posted this story earlier; I don't think so. The Bismarck Tribune is reporting that Sanjel is closing its operations in Billings, MT. A loss of 20 jobs; had been operating in Billings since 2012.

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Dow Chemical Bets Big On Fracking

Forbes is reporting:

Dow Chemical is investing $6 billion to enlarge its manufacturing facilities in the United States by 40 percent, based on a wager that low natural gas prices here will persist into the middle of the next decade, a Dow executive said in Chicago this week.

The investment reverses Dow’s vocal exodus from manufacturing in the United States.

“We’re putting $6 billion here in the U.S. Gulf Coast, betting that the gas advantage maintains for us to get a suitable return on that investment, which is into the next decade."

Firms like Dow are emboldened by the news that U.S. natural gas production increased by 4 percent last year, even during a glut that caused low prices that discourage new drilling.

By Olivia, our eight-year-old granddaughter.