Monsanto, parent company of the DeKalb agricultural company, announced Friday it will sell its 52,500 square foot office building at 1947 Bethany Road in Sycamore to Nicor Gas.

Nicor will convert the facility to a call center to handle customer relations.

“Call center operations are expected to begin by September 2002,” according to a Nicor statement released Monday.

“Our goal was more than simply to sell the vacant facility,” said Jerry Carter, Monsanto’s director of facilities and real estate in Sycamore and DeKalb.

The sale was sheparded by the trio of Sycamore Mayor John Swedberg, City Manager Bill Nicklas and Roger Hopkins, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation.

DeKalb County Board Chairman Robert Pritchard said the citizens of DeKalb County should know the DeKalb County Development Corporation and composite municipal governments are working together on this type of economic development.

The facility, which features a two-story atrium, was built on 16 acres of land in 1982 and purchased by DeKalb Genetics Corporation in 1996 as a temporary office, while a major renovation was under way at their main office campus at 3100 Sycamore Road.

Nicor’s initial plans call for occupying half of the 52,000 square foot facility and employing approximately 35-40 call center representatives and administrative staff. The company expects the center to reach full operation and employ up to 150 positions within two years.

“Our call center is arguably the company’s most critical function because it’s the most predominant way that we communicate with our customers,” Nicor Gas Vice President Chris Suppes said. “But this site offers more than just an ideal facility within which to operate a call center; it offers the great people of Sycamore as neighbors and potential employees. We couldn’t be more pleased with the location.

“We’re looking forward to joining Sycamore’s corporate community. Sycamore’s a great town, not to mention the Bethany Road facility came equipped with several features that met our criteria for implementing a state-of-the-art call center operation.”

DeKalb Genetics Corporation was purchased by Monsanto in 1998.

Monsanto employs about 180 people at several locations throughout northern Illinois, including DeKalb, Sycamore, Waterman, Thomasboro, Mason City, Illiopolis and Bloomington.

According to Monsanto’s DeKalb Web site, www.dekalb.com, “DeKalb’s product offerings include corn hybrids, soybean varieties, alfalfa products, sunflower hybrids, grain sorghum hybrids and forage sorghum and Sudax varieties.”

Nicor Gas is a gas distribution company that serves approximately two million people in a region encompassing roughly the northern third of Illinois, excluding Chicago.