From the President
If 2009 was such a slow year, how did it disappear so quickly?
I’ve had the honor and privilege of being the Port’s President for just slightly more than one year and I am happy to report that there have been no dull moments. Acquisition and redevelopment of the former East Side 3M campus dominated our efforts in 2009. The Port now owns the entire 46-acre site. Equally important though, the Port worked for a solid year with a small army of individuals and organizations to help us determine how the redevelopment of that site should proceed.
On the fee for service side, we employed architects, engineers, historical consultants, environmental specialists, marketing experts and commercial realtors.
On the volunteer side, we worked with district council representatives, Historic St. Paul representatives, Saint Paul Planning Commission members, business association representatives and interested citizens.
The result is a plan that calls for the immediate demolition, clearance and environmental cleanup of some buildings, and the preservation and marketing of other buildings for a period of up to two years.
We are working with two firms to brand and market the buildings that we would all like to see reused, as well as the rest of site. I want to thank the entire team, but mostly I want to thank the volunteers who gave up countless hours and helped us think creatively about the reuse and redevelopment of the site.
I also want to thank Saint Paul City Council members Dan Bostrom and Kathy Lantry for bringing the Advisory Committee together, and Mayor Chris Coleman for his unwavering support for job creation on the East Side.
But the 3M redevelopment was by no means the only Port activity in 2009. We are finishing up construction on our new Southport Barge Terminal and will move operations from the current site near the Lafayette Bridge to Southport next spring.
We also are prepared to launch next year our truly innovative Trillion Btu energy conservation loan program. We will use economic stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy and appropriated by the Minnesota Legislature. We were hoping to roll out the program earlier, but the paperwork barriers out in Washington D.C., turned out to be more formidable than the concrete and asphalt barriers at the former Minnehaha Lanes site, where we’ve completed building demolition, contamination cleanup and parking lot construction. We have a great development site ready to go and a couple real prospects are kicking the tires now.
We also assisted HealthEast Medical Transportation service and Baldinger Bakery in expanding and modernizing their operations on two of our East Side properties. HealthEast has begun construction on one of the former 3M parcels. We still are working with Baldinger to finalize the financing for that important project. Interestingly, both projects were contingent on lower-interest financing through the Port’s allocation of federal New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) – signaling to us that the much-publicized commercial credit crunch is not over. It’s also clear that we will pursue another NMTC allocation for 2010.
With new leadership at the Port, 2009 was the time to reflect on the past and look into the future. Our job was to create a strategic plan for the Port that will help us progress into the second decade of this century. The consultant Prouty Project assisted us. The outcome wasn’t revolutionary. It was mostly a validation of what we currently do. But it also opened our eyes to new opportunities that we might have otherwise missed. From the strategic planning process we determined that our core purpose for existing is to improve the lives of Saint Paul’s citizens by helping build a vibrant economic community. Our vision is to be the premier local economic development entity in the nation (no point in aiming low). Our mission should be familiar to those are familiar with the Port’s history; it is to create quality job opportunities, expand the City’s tax base and advance sustainable development.
To meet our core purpose, achieve our vision, and accomplish our mission, we also needed to establish our core values. These values serve as guideposts to help the Port Board and staff to determine which opportunities we should embrace, and which we should refer to others. The primary core value is to remain fiscally sound. As an entity that must be both entrepreneurial and prudent in order to keep the doors open, this value is an imperative. But the other core values are important guideposts as well. We intend to be socially responsible, collaborative, innovative, willing to take reasonable risks, and we must act with the integrity that is expected of public entities. Nowhere in our plan does it say that we will only do one type of development, or that we won’t do some types of development. We know the Port’s sweet spot is industrial development, but if we can assist or fill a niche on other types of developments that are consistent with our purpose, vision, mission and core values, we should. As our Saint Paul economic development partners contemplate the future of our joint efforts and relationships through the Mayor’s Economic Development Task Force, the Port’s strategic plan represents flexibility, with criteria, that will help us do our part to create a long-term vibrant economic future for St. Paul.
I’m looking forward to 2010. But in the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.
