Minnesota Business Developments

by Carol Walsh - carol.walsh@state.mn.us
December 2011

Northern

A Duluth foundry has announced a $12 million expansion that will create 30 new jobs. ME Global is adding a third arc furnace to its Duluth plant that melts down huge amounts of scrap metal. The plant uses the metal to make large replacement parts for mining companies. The company spent another $10 million on an expansion in 2011. When the new furnace is completed this fall the foundry will employ nearly 200 people, and the new jobs pay about $50,000 a year. About half the foundry’s customers are on the Iron Range, and the rest are mainly copper mines around the world.

Construction has begun for The Canal Park Brewing Co., a 200-seat restaurant, beer hall, and brewing facility expected to open this July in Duluth. The site overlooks Lake Superior and borders Canal Park’s hotels and shops. Island Investment Inc. of Superior is the developer. In preparation Island Investments demolished the former Duluth Spring Co. building and conducted an environmental cleanup of Canal Park’s last remaining industrial property.

Central

Noodles & Company, a restaurant featuring noodles, sandwiches, and salads, will open its second St. Cloud location in a building being constructed on the site of the former Campus Book & Supply store at Fifth Avenue and Minnesota Highway 23. The new Noodles will cover about 2,500 square feet and employ 30 people. It is scheduled to open by early summer. Noodles & Company currently has 28 locations in Minnesota.

Car Smart, a St. Cloud car dealership, is adding a two-story, 40-by-80-foot facility that will house three lifts and space for mechanics as well as office space for a new company, Smart Funding, that will offer loans to buyers and dealers. Dave Koop, owner of both businesses, plans to hire a couple of mechanics and a service writer and anticipates the new space will be operational by March.

Twin Cities Metro

Prime Therapeutics, a pharmacy benefit management company headquartered in Eagan, plans to add 300 information technology and business analyst jobs in Minnesota with financial assistance from DEED in the form of a $500,000 Minnesota Investment Fund forgivable loan. Prime Therapeutics will use the loan primarily to expand its operations to the former Buffets Inc. building at 1460 Buffet Way in Eagan, not far from its corporate headquarters. Under the deal, the loan will be forgiven once the company meets its employment goals.

Construction has started on a new 45,000-square-foot L.A. Fitness club at the site of a former Kmart store in Richfield. The $6 million project is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. Kmart closed the store at that location in 2009.

Little Canada-based St. Jude Medical Inc. plans to expand its facilities in Plymouth with a three-story, 275,000-square-foot addition. The company will consolidate its cardiovascular-division operations at the facility, which formerly served as AGA Medical Holdings Inc.’s headquarters. St. Jude bought AGA Medical for $1.3 billion in 2010. St. Jude will move operations located in Minnetonka and Maple Grove into the expanded building.The former AGA Medical headquarters is about 205,000 square feet. The medical device maker wants to begin construction in February and complete the project in 2013.

Southern

Construction is nearing completion on expanding Revier Cattle near Olivia from 4,500 head of cattle to 10,500, making it one of the state’s largest cattle operations. The cattle moved to market from Revier are born and raised in the Midwest, but a growing share of the meat is being exported overseas according to owners Tom and Dave Revier. The family-owned operation includes a feedlot and crop production and has 20 employees. The number of employees is expected to remain the same when the expansion is completed.

DEED has awarded a $200,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership grant to Minnesota State College – Southeast Technical to train 140 Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) workers. HBC, located in Winona, provides telecommunications services to communities in the southeast region of Minnesota. Employees will receive lean training, including lean tools and fundamentals, value stream mapping, and Kaizan.

Minnesota West Community and Technical College’s Luverne Center is being updated and expanded to accommodate a large classroom, office space, medical assistant lab space, and a student services area. Completion is expected in April. The Luverne Educational Center for Health Careers opened in 2007 as part of a joint effort between the college, Sanford Health Systems, and the city of Luverne and offers programs in radiologic technology, surgical technology, medical assistant, and medical laboratory technician.

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