“When an opportunity comes along to move an asset that is more liability than asset, it makes good sense to sell it, which is what we did,” she said in an email.

A yellow paper sign affixed to the front door at Superior Lumber on Wednesday said the lumberyard will close on Friday and all of the inventory will be moved to its main office in Charles City by June 28, when the new owners will take over.

Neither Mehmen nor Cerro Gordo County property records identified the purchaser; however, Jan Lovell, president of Woodford Lumber & Home Co. in Clear Lake, said the fifth-generation, family-owned business is in the process of purchasing the property but it’s not finalized.

“We’re finding it’s a good opportunity to expand products and services to meet customers’ needs,” she said.

Woodford Lumber & Home Co. is celebrating its 150th anniversary in business this year. Truman Woodford, a brother of the great-great-grandfather of present owners, founded and started the business in 1869.

According to property records, the Superior Lumber property comprises 3.16 acres and nearly 26,000-square-feet in commercial buildings.

The Mehmens purchased the Clear Lake building in 2011 for $350,000 from Farmers Coop Inc., property records state.

“We appreciate your support the past 7.5 years,” the sign said.

The sale of the Clear Lake building will have no effect on Superior Lumber’s lumberyards in Charles City and New Hampton, Mehmen said, noting its employees are taken care of.

“We just celebrated our 28th anniversary in business and have no intentions of leaving the building-materials business,” she said.

Heidi and Paul Mehmen opened Superior Lumber in Marble Rock in 1991. The business moved to its present location in Charles City in 1996.

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