Columbia-based Veterans United (VU) Home Loans has withdrawn its $8.1 million offer to purchase the former IBM building on Lemone Industrial from the city of Columbia.
939 the Eagle’s Mike Murphy, who publishes Comobuz, broke the story and says VU discovered environmental contamination on the property during due diligence inspections. Mike reports a VU spokesman and Columbia city manager De’Carlon Seewood’s office acknowledge the deal has been terminated but declined to offer an explanation. An open records request from Mike and Comobuz and released by the city includes documents from environmental engineers hired by VU that report concentrations of PFAS in the soil and groundwater at the site exceed new federal limits.
939 the Eagle News reported in February that Columbia’s city council approved the sale of the massive 83,000 square foot building to Veterans United, which is the largest private employer in Columbia/Boone County. VU currently has more than 2,900 employees in Boone County, according to the latest statistics from Columbia Regional Economic Development Incorporated (REDI). The nine-acre site is across from Gates on busy Lemone Industrial.
The Columbia city council’s February packet says the former IBM building includes 721 parking spaces, 802 cubicles, 26 team rooms and a 32-seat training room. It also includes a tornado storm shelter, which IBM built.
