Rumiano buys apartments

Rumiano Cheese recently acquired a six-unit apartment building at 820 F St., and this week the City Council agreed to change the its zoning from residential/professional to downtown commercial.

The site is adjacent to the cheese factory.

“We now own the whole block,” said Kirk Olesen of Rumiano Cheese. “We thought it was prudent to become one zone, not necessarily for anything we want to do or anything huge coming up.”

For now, the 18-year old apartment complex will continue to house tenants, some of whom have lived there since the place was built.

Olesen reported to the council that Rumiano has improved and renovated the property. However, he said the company plans to not re-rent the apartments as tenants move out, and may undertake an expansion in the next five years.

Rumiano already overcame zoning restrictions on the block in 2007 when it petitioned to exceed structural height regulations and construct a 60-foot-

high silo, one of several white towers that are now an ever-present sight and sound of the neighborhood.

“Any future structures have to go through all the permitting processes,” City Planner Eric Taylor pointed out before the council approved the zoning change.

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