Minnesota Business Developments

by Rhonda Mix - rhonda.mix@state.mn.us
May 2010

Northern

Construction is well under way on the new Perham Memorial Hospital and Home Care in Perham. The 120,000-square-foot facility is being built with energy efficiency and nature in mind. It features a lot of natural light, wood, water, and vegetation. The $32 million project will replace the current hospital in Perham that is 50 years old. Built to accommodate a minimum of 25 percent growth in volume, the new state-of-the-art hospital will provide patients and their families the support and care they need in a comfortable healing environment. The project is slated for completion in 2011.

Central

The Twin Cities Orthopedics Clinic has outgrown its space in Elk River, so it is building a new facility in Otsego that will be four to five times as big. Groundbreaking for the new 11,000-square-foot facility occurred in April. The clinic will be the first medical clinic to be located in Otsego and is slated for completion in the fall.

With the help of a $600,000 Small Cities Development Grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the city of Braham plans to build a $1.6 million community center. The 14,000-square-foot facility, which is slated for completion by April 2011, will feature a banquet hall that seats 300, dividers for several smaller meeting rooms, a food shelf, kitchen, and library.

Twin Cities Metro

Goodrich Corp., a maker of commercial aerospace and defense sensors, plans to begin a $16.1 million first phase expansion in August at its Burnsville location. The Phase 1 expansion includes a 10,000-square-foot wind tunnel and a 42,000-square-foot clean-fabrication space to be added to its current 243,000-square-foot Burnsville facility, which is the headquarters of the company’s Sensors and Integrated Systems Division. This first phase expansion is expected to create up to 50 new jobs.

South Washington County School District 833 received authorization through the Minnesota Department of Education for low- or no-interest loans for renovations needed at five schools. Improvements will be done this summer at Hillside Elementary and Newport Elementary. Woodbury Elementary and Royal Oaks Elementary are scheduled for improvements in the summer of 2011, and Armstrong Elementary is slated for the summer of 2012.

The Minnesota Army National Guard broke ground on a new $15 million Readiness Center in Arden Hills. The Center, which is being built on the site of the former Twin Cities Army and Ammunition Plant, will house the Guard’s 147th Human Resources Company and the 135th Forward Support Company. The 61,000-square-foot facility is slated for completion in September 2011.

Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards Inc. launched a new unit based in Minneapolis, Hallmark Business Connections. With about 90 employees, the new unit is aimed at helping companies with employee recognition, customer relations, and other programs.

DEED’s Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program (MJSP) announced a $217,646 grant to support training for 161 employees of Wilbert Plastic Services in White Bear Lake. The training collaboration includes MJSP, Wilbert Plastic Services, Century College, and Hennepin Technical College (HTC). Wilbert Plastic Services produces thermoformed and injection-molded products for the automotive, recreation, health care, waste management, and funeral services markets. Wilbert is beginning to produce plastic source materials in-house using their own recycled pellets. This requires re-training current employees and hiring 15 to 20 new employees. In addition, Wilbert began a quality management program and plans to pursue certification as a green business. HTC will provide a 14-credit Plastics Manufacturing Technology course. Century College will provide environmental curriculum and preparation for green business certification.

The new Hennepin County Library in Maple Grove is now open. The 40,000-square-foot facility is almost triple the size of the former Maple Grove location, which experienced a 79 percent increase in use over the past decade. It has about 12,000 more books, CDs, and DVDs, for a total of 114,000, and 21 more computers, for a total of 69 computers with Internet access, plus five public catalog computers. Other features include an energy-saving green roof, a drive-up book drop, and a parking ramp with 350 parking spaces, more than quadruple the number at the former location.

Southern

Officials broke ground for a new industrial park in Albert Lea. The Interstate 35/Interstate 90 Business Park will be located on 80 acres off East Main Street and is designed for warehousing distribution or light industrial.

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