Aberdeen Beef Plant Pays Off Most Liens Filed Against It

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - A long-delayed beef-processing plant in Aberdeen has paid off all but one of the 39 liens filed against it.

The American News reports the paid-off liens total just under $14 million and include some filed before Korean investors took over in 2009. The remaining lien was filed by a Huron excavation company seeking $2.1 million. It is still tied up in the courts.

The liens are among numerous problems that have pushed back the opening date for the $109 million plant that started construction in 2007. City officials this fall issued Northern Beef Packers a temporary certificate of occupancy, allowing it to slaughter up to five cattle to test equipment.

The plant eventually is to process up to 1,500 cattle per day from the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

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