S.D. gas utility buys Fayetteville building

Black Hills Energy, a natural-gas and electric utility with 1.25 million customers in Arkansas and seven other states, has bought the Fayetteville office building it has rented since 2009, the company said in a news release Friday.

The two-story building at 655 E. Millsap Road was previously owned by Flake & Kelley Commercial. The sale closed Thursday for an undisclosed amount.

“Owning our facility allows us to better control costs and positions us well to continue to meet the needs of our customers and the region,” Todd Jacobs, vice president of the company’s natural-gas operations in Arkansas, said in the release.

The purchase also gives the company full access to the building, the release states. This includes additional space needed to accommodate job growth in the customer service center, field resource center and other departments, the utility said.

Black Hills Energy is a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp. of Rapid City, S.D. It also has customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

— Serenah McKay