Minnesota Business Developments

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

Northern

Minnesota State University Moorhead Wet Lab Facility was awarded a $350,000 infrastructure grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to assist with the $710,500 construction of two new laboratories. The laboratories will be used to train current and future employees in the bioscience, pharmaceutical, and chemistry industries. Local bioscience firms such as Aldevron and Clinical Supplies Management Inc. have indicated the project will help provide critical training for employees who are needed at their businesses.

Central

A new quick-serve Mexican restaurant has opened in Rogers. Amigos Mexican Grill prepares its ingredients fresh every day. No ingredients are used the next day. Even salsas are made fresh daily. The restaurant customizes its salsa to the heat preference of the individual customer. The restaurant also has a meeting room that is free to the public. It can hold approximately 20 people.

Twin Cities Metro

DEED awarded the city of Minnetonka a $1 million infrastructure grant to assist with the $19.5 million Highway 169/Bren Road interchange project. The project will encourage expansion of bioscience businesses that are located in the Opus Business Park, including UnitedHealth Group, Annex Medical, Anodyne, Medisyn, Electro Sensors, Vital Images, Virtual Radiologistic, Viromed, and American Medical. It is anticipated that the Opus Business Park businesses will create 3,900 additional jobs by 2030.

A $1.5 million DEED infrastructure grant was awarded to Ramsey County to assist with the $35 million Highway 36/Rice Street interchange project, which will accommodate a planned expansion at St. Jude Medical that will add 700 to 750 jobs in the next 10 years.

To keep up with demand, Minneapolis-based New French Bakery is planning to expand and build a new 56,000-square-foot bakery at 2600 Minnehaha Ave. S. in Minneapolis. The new facility, which will be the company’s third location in Minneapolis, will use automatic baking and packaging processes used throughout Europe.

Groundbreaking occurred in Chaska for the new $17 million Ridgeview Medical Center. Named Two Twelve Medical Center, the new 163,000-square-foot facility will feature clinics, a 24-hour emergency room, library, pharmacy, and other amenities. Located at the northeast corner of Highways 41 and 212, the center is expected to open in February 2011.

Due to worldwide demand for clean water, Dow Water & Process Solutions is adding 40 new employees at its plant that opened last year in Edina. The new staff will help make industrial-sized filters similar to those used in large salt-water desalination plants around the world. Next door to its Edina plant, the company is currently building a manufacturing line to make filters used in residential sinks and appliances.

Gillette Children’s Hospital plans a $42 million expansion project in St. Paul. The project, which is expected to begin in early November, includes a new 52,000-square-foot building across the street from Gillette’s existing space at Regions Hospital. The new facility will house several outpatient services, including rehabilitation therapies and Gillette’s Center for Gait and Motion Analysis. Renovations are also planned for Gillette’s existing space and the construction of a new skyway between that facility and the new building.

Southern

Marco Inc., a St. Cloud-based information technology company, is expanding with the acquisition of a similar-type business, Venture Computer Systems, which has two locations in Minnesota, Rochester and Mankato. With this acquisition Marco’s staff will increase to about 300. Marco currently has locations in St. Cloud, St. Paul, Brainerd, Bemidji, Mankato, Grand Forks, Detroit Lakes, Fargo-Moorhead, and Sioux Falls.

GrandStay Residential Suites Hotel opened in Faribault. It is the first hotel chain in the country to install strobe lights in all of its rooms for people who are deaf and or hearing impaired. The strobe lights act as fire alarms.