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The Oil Patch Continued

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8661 Deer Run Dr. * Victoria

952-443-2351

         After Christopher quit working for his uncle in the Oil Patch, he got into land development and the Tioga Airport Commission.  He purchased the old downtown Tioga bank building, a stable brick structure that he and Jenny remodeled to house and sleep four to six Oil Patch workers. They put in a kitchen upstairs and a kitchen downstairs, plumbed and built a second bathroom downstairs, sanded and varnished three times the hardwood floors upstairs, painted walls, raised the drop ceiling to reveal original woodwork and leaded glass windows, revamped the electrical and heating, and totally furnished and equipped the place.  It is currently rented to an oil field service company.

         Since the bank renovation, Chris has developed six acres along State Highway 40, the main north-south route through Tioga.  To be more accurate, he purchased the property for development.  The once bare acreage is now home to the Black Gold Suites Hotel, storage units of Arabian Rental, and the Main Stay Suites Hotel.  Chris rents out a fourth parcel at this time to a welder and is in talks for a potential Car Wash on that location.

         Over on Gilbertson Street, in the Industrial Park of Tioga, Chris owns the rights to a water well on leased property.  Water is a necessary resource in the Oil Patch.  Large volumes of water are used during the drilling and completion of oil wells.  For example, water is used for gas plant cooling and boiler water, as testwater for pipelines and tanks, as rig wash water, and as a coolant for rig engines.

         Chris also purchased property along the train tracks in Tioga which he will rent out this spring while keeping an eye toward the future.

         Chris has been interviewed and featured in The Drill, a newspaper which centers on news from the Oil Patch, plus several times in the Tioga Tribune, most recently in the February 18th, 2014, edition.

         In part, the front page reads: “The Tioga Airport is hoping to embark on a $4 million improvement project this spring, after nearly six years in a financial holding pattern.  ‘We finally got the spigot turned on,’ said Airport Authority Board President Chris Norgaard.  The Board is poised to move forward with the help of local, state, and federal agencies to improve the airport’s ramp and apron to accommodate larger planes.  ‘I see a lot of opportunity coming down the road for the Tioga Airport,’ Norgaard said.”

         Chris, who has a pilot’s license and sold his own private plane while still living in Northfield, MN, has worked and been on call at the airport practically since they moved to Tioga.  He sees aircraft rentals and student instruction in the future of the Tioga airport. 

         Chris spoke of other major projects coming to their hometown, including a $9 million improvement upgrade to the Tioga hospital.  “They just received bids and Shingobee from Minnesota got the job,” he said.  Back in 2007/2008, Shingobee expressed interest in developing the 13.5 city-owned acres in Victoria.

         Chris spoke of $10 million in improvements to the high school and elementary school, most going to Tioga Elementary, where many of the existing new classrooms were hauled in like boxcars because of the population explosion.  On site the school also has small FEMA trailers which they rent to teachers for $700/month.  Population of Tioga was about 1,200 when the Norgaards moved there.  Jenny says it has doubled since then.

 

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The Victoria GAZETTE

March 2014

Chris and Jenny and Goliath.