Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School has prepared a spot to the east of the main school building for a new garage. Construction will not begin until after graduation to avoid crowding the parking lot with vehicles and construction materials.

NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School (MVL) is preparing to start construction of a new garage.

The school has prepared a space near the entrance to its parking lot where buses can go for light maintenance and storage.

“We thought we would have one central location, so that is really why we are looking into this,” Principal Tim Plath said. “So we can have one location for these items and to provide needed storage space for those vehicles.”

The garage is a joint venture between MVL and Palmer Bus Services, Inc. It is expected to cost between $175,000 and $200,000.

Half of the 54-foot-by-75-foot structure will be used by Palmer to store and maintain busses. The other half will be for MVL’s use, Plath said.

The garage replaces storage space that was sold last year in Klossner.

“Last year we wound up selling the Klossner State Bank, which we had owned since the early 2000s, I believe,” Plath said. “We had used that for storage and somebody was interested in buying it so we decided to sell that.”

The bank had been problematic as storage for MVL because of the roughly 14 mile round trip to pick up any supplies stored there, Plath said.

While MVL has leveled a spot and laid down aggregate in preparation, construction of the structure will not start until after graduation at the end of May.

MVL is waiting until June to avoid leaving the construction materials needed by the parking lot while students and staff are using it, Plath said.

The school plans to have a ground-breaking ceremony in the coming weeks. A final date has not been picked.

The school would like to thank Holtmeier Construction, Smith Lawn and Landscaping and New Ulm Quartzite Quarry for materials and labor donated.

Connor Cummiskey can be emailed at ccummiskey@nujournal.com.