Just Sold: Copart pays $3.3 million for 45-acre auction site in Elk River.

Byline: Anne Bretts

Editor's note: "Just Sold" is a Finance & Commerce feature based on the newest certificates of real estate value filed with the Minnesota Department of Revenue for commercial sales throughout Minnesota and reports of sales across the country involving local parties. Research includes company and broker documents, online real estate listings, F&C archives, CoStar and other research.

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Dallas-based auto salvage auction company Copart has closed on the site of its year-old facility in Elk River.

Copart of Connecticut Inc. closed May 12 on the $3.3 million purchase of nearly 50 acres from the Montgomery Family Partnership LLP. The partnership is related to the family Mark Montgomery, second-generation owner of EJM Pipe Services Inc., now based in Columbus.

City officials in 2019 approved a conditional use permit allowing Copart to open a storage site at the EJM storage yard at 15932 Jarvis St., near U.S. Highway 10. It's located northwest of Highway 10, east of Jarvis Street Northwest and south of 161st Avenue Northwest.

Copart leased part of the site from the family for its initial location, and now is expanding to use the entire site, Montgomery said. City records indicate Copart plans to add a 12,800-square-foot facility.

"A year ago they were renting from me and now I'm renting from them," he said. Montgomery said that traffic on the highway has boosted the drive time from Columbus to Elk River from 25 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes. That makes it too expensive to do business at the site. Montgomery has been involved in the business for more than 40 years and succeeded his father, Allen, who died in 2019. The company has grown to focus on trenchless pipe installation, with work across the country. It owns a 70-acre headquarters in Columbus.

Montgomery said that finding outdoor storage can be difficult. He's leasing part of the Elk River site for a few months while he finds a different location and moves the materials there, he said.

Copart's website explains that it processes and sells salvage and clean title vehicles to dealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters and end users. Copart sells for insurance companies, banks, finance companies, fleet operators, dealers, and individual owners. It has more than 200 locations in 11...

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