Minnesota Business Developments

by Rhonda Mix - rhonda.mix@state.mn.us
April 2009

Northern

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded a $171,700 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership(MJSP) grant to support lean training for employees of Deer River Healthcare Center in Itasca County. The 18-month training collaboration of MJSP, Deer River Healthcare Center, and Itasca Community College will provide advanced training and retraining to 249 employees.

DEED received a $1.68 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to create approximately 140 temporary jobs to clean up public structures and land damaged by the spring flooding in the Red River Valley. The grant will pay wages to workers who assist with cleanup in the counties of Clay, Kittson, Marshall, Norman,  Polk, Traverse, and Wilkin. Cities, counties and other units of government will be the primary employers.

Central

DEED awarded a $269,000 MJSP grant to support customized training for 180 employees — including 58 new hires — of Ultra Machining in Monticello. The three-year training collaboration includes MJSP, Utra Machining and Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

Chaska-based Klein Bank has expanded into Otsego. The new 4,900-square-foot Otsego branch office is the bank’s 22nd branch. The Otsego location employs six full-time workers, four of whom are new hires.

Twin Cities Metro

Embassy Suites Hotels, part of Hilton Hotels Corp., opened a new hotel in Brooklyn Center. It is the first new hotel in Brooklyn Center in 10 years and the 200th hotel for the company. The 175-suite, eight-story hotel features its new environmentally friendly design and the Flying Spoons restaurant. The hotel is attached to the historic Earle Brown Conference Center, which offers guests 36,000 square feet of meeting space in addition to the 5,000 square feet of meeting space available in the hotel. Managed by Oliver Cos. Inc., based in Duluth, the new hotel employs 90 people.

A new supermarket, Fresh Seasons Market, has opened in the city of Victoria. The $4.6 million facility is the first grocery store to establish in Victoria. The new supermarket created 60 new jobs for the area.

Southern

New Vision Cooperative opened its new 45,000-ton capacity fertilizer plant in Brewster. Serving crop producers in the tri-state region, the $10.5 million facility will operate year round. The plant, which is the largest fertilizer storage facility in Minnesota, will have a staff of five to seven employees.

As part of its alternative-energy curriculum, Riverland Community College in Albert Lea plans to build a wind turbine and solar panel on Albert Lea High School land. Construction on the $180,000 to $200,000 project is scheduled to begin this summer, if the permit process goes well. The energy that is generated by the wind turbine will be used by the college.