From the President

Louis Jambois

In late June, an unprecedented event quietly occurred in the Twin Cities. The event involved hosting eight national site selectors on an informational site tour of our region. The local partners included the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, the City of Saint Paul, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Itasca Project, and, of course, the Saint Paul Port Authority.

The three-day tour marks the first time all of these partners have worked together to showcase the region. The participating site selectors represent a small group of professional consultants whose primary work is to find suitable locations for business locations and expansions.

Information presented to them was wide-ranging and included the area’s cost of doing business, infrastructure, regulation, workforce, transportation systems, our network of educational institutions and available sites. We also touted our quality of life. Local corporate real estate experts including Doyle Shea, of 3M Co. and Jim Scannell of Travelers Insurance provided their perspectives on the Twin Cities’ business climate, as compared to the many other locations where those companies do business. The site selectors also heard from Mayors Chris Coleman and R.T. Rybak on why the Twin Cities is such a great place to live and do business. They heard from Dan McElroy, the Commissioner of DEED, Frank Cerra from the University of Minnesota, and Doug Baker from Ecolab.

I had the great pleasure of hosting our guests on a bus tour of three of our business centers – Williams Hill and Westminster Junction and Beacon Bluff. All three are great examples of the Port Authority’s Brownfields-to-Thriving Businesses capabilities.

As we toured further down Phalen Boulevard to Beacon Bluff, they were able to watch contamination cleanup and demolition work on two of the parcels, construction activities at the new Baldinger Bakery plant, and the finishing touches being put on the new HealthEast Medical Transportation facility.

The site selectors were genuinely interested in how the Port turns brownfields into jobs and tax base. They asked great questions and gave me a wonderful opportunity to show off our skills.  They were impressed by the quality of our cleanup efforts, the incentives we could offer, and they were very impressed by the quality and appearance of our finished business centers. If they had half as much fun on the tour as I had, they had a really great time.

But perhaps the most important segment of the entire event was a feedback presentation given by the site selectors. They were gracious, but candid. Their comments included some things that we’ve all heard including the need to continue to work on our general business climate. They also stressed the notion that Minnesota is a great place to do business and a too well-kept secret. We need to cooperate, brand, market and recruit regionally, they said. They thought our three-day event was a good first step, but that we need to organize and implement an on-going effort.

In all, the event was a demonstration to all of us that businesses, public officials and development organizations can work together to market our region’s strengths. There also was a common understanding that by working together, we will increase our prospects for future prosperity.

The Economic Development Association of Minnesota (EDAM) presented Saint Paul Port Authority President Louie Jambois with the organization’s 2010 President’s Award during EDAM’s conference in June at Madden’s Resort.

Louie has more than 30 years of experience in developing and implementing community financing programs at the federal, state and local levels. He has extensive experience managing and overseeing legislative policy creation, innovative development financing, and initiation of collaborative efforts between public and private community and economic development entities.

Prior to joining the Port, Louie joined what is now the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).  There he managed a variety of Community and Economic Development programs.  He also helped create and launch state-funded Contamination Cleanup and Redevelopment Programs, natural disaster recovery programs and Minnesota’s Job Opportunity Building Zone (JOBZ) program – the model used to create legislation in 2010 to retain Ford Motor Company in Saint Paul.

As president of the Port Authority, Louie is responsible for leading the organization in a direction that, in cooperation with our economic development partners, leverages the Port’s strengths in redevelopment, business and workforce development to create jobs, grow the tax base and assure a sustainable Saint Paul.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded the Saint Paul Port Authority two grants totaling $1.55 million  for contamination remediation at the Beacon Bluff Business Center ($950,000) and the Port’s newly acquired Pelham Business Center ($600,000) at Interstate 94 and Minnesota Highway 280.

Quintin Rubald provides living proof about the old cliché that says when you’re fired from a job you should consider it an opportunity.

Rubald founded Summit Fire and Protection in 1999, just a few weeks after being laid off by another company. He started with five employees and now has 250 — including 35 who were added earlier this year when Summit acquired Minnesota Conway Fire & Safety and moved its workers from Bloomington to Summit’s offices in the Port Authority’s Great Northern Business Center South.

“In 11 years we’ve become the largest full-service fire-protection provider in the Midwest,” Rubald declares. “It’s a hands-down fact.”

If that sounds like bragging, so be it. The acquisition of Minnesota Conway continues Summit’s methodical plan to diversify in the fire-protection industry.

Originally founded as a business specializing in the engineering and installation of building sprinkler systems, Summit now has a division that provides consulting services for fire-code compliances, plus another division called Dakota Mechanical that specializes in complete plumbing, heating and HVAC services.

The acquisition of Minnesota Conway, which specialized in fire alarms and fire extinguishers, adds another element to Summit’s glossary. “We’ve become a one-stop shop for a building owner or new-construction manager,” Rubald says.

This kind of expansion was anticipated in 2006 when Summit built its headquarters on land that had been prepared for development by the Port on a parcel just north of Minnehaha Avenue between Dale and Arundel streets. That same year, Summit acquired the financial muscle for its expansion plans by selling the majority of its holdings to Chicago-based Prospect Partners LLC, a private-equity firm.

“It’s given us the gunpowder to go out and do the acquisitions and keep the business going, even in a down economy,” Rubald said.

And there have been big deals. For example, Summit handled the sprinkling systems in the University of Minnesota’s new TCF Bank Stadium and its consulting division did major fire-protecting consulting work for the Minnesota Twins’ new Target Field.

At the time it moved into the Great Northern Business Center South, Summit also had offices in Rochester and Saint Cloud in Minnesota, and Iowa City in Iowa. The enticement that brought Summit to Saint Paul was a standard 10-year Port workforce agreement that requires the creation of living-wage jobs with stipulated pay minimums, plus specific building designs. In return, the firm got the land for $1.

It’s been good for the city. Once known as the Dale Street Shops, the 11-acre Great Northern Business Center was heavily polluted railroad and industrial land when it was acquired by the Port in the late 1990s and subsequently cleaned up in preparation for development. In addition to Summit Fire Protection, the site is now home to Restoration Professionals, Circuitech and Dakota Supply Group.

Rubald says Saint Paul has become the epicenter of Summit’s ambitions.

“We’re on the move,” he said. “Our plan is to grow as a full-service of life safety systems. There’s still a tremendous amount of opportunity in the industry.”

Learn more about Summit Fire and Protection at http://www.summitfire.com/

The past and the future came into alignment this week at a ceremony unveiling Beacon Bluff, the Port Authority’s project to create a vibrant new business district out of the historic 3M Main Plant Campus on Saint Paul’s East Side.

After a brief struggle amid much laughter, Mayor Chris Coleman and Port President Louis Jambois yanked away the black cloth covering a large sign displaying the century-old district’s new name and logo. Beacon Bluff is officially launched.

The site selected for the ceremony was fitting: The lobby of Building 21, an imposing limestone structure designed by architect Albert Kahn in 1939 to house 3M’s corporate headquarters. Though temperatures in the currently unheated building were frigid, participants stood on a pattern-inlaid marble floor and marveled at the gracefully curved Art Deco wood paneling that reached from floor to ceiling.

One older attendee recalled where the offices of William L. McKnight were located, noting that McKnight had been president of 3M for a decade when the building was constructed in 1939 and had offices there until the early 1970s.

“We see much history here,” Mayor Coleman said, adding that Beacon Bluff “balances what has been a great past and great opportunity.”

After a year of study and nearly 30 meetings with a Community Advisory Committee, the Port has launched a marketing campaign to develop 61 acres, including 46 acres that were once the 3M campus, plus adjacent property once used by Globe Building Materials and Griffin Wheelworks. The plan envisions selling five existing 3M buildings for reuse — including Building 21 — and the remaining property for building sites.

In all, Beacon Bluff would include a mix of light industrial, office and retail businesses that together would bring about 1,400 jobs and $2 million in annual property taxes.

“We think this is what we’re all about in the redevelopment game,” Jambois said. “We are about jobs, tax-based growth and building sustainable communities.”

Reviving a heritage is also a major goal. Saint Paul City Council Member Dan Bostrom, who is also a Port Authority commissioner, noted that his father spent his career working for 3M in Building 20, located directly across the street from the former corporate headquarters. As an East Sider, Bostrom said his dad vowed never to have a job that he couldn’t reach by walking from home.

“We want to see those opportunities come back,” Bostrom said.

The project, considered the largest redevelopment effort tackled by the Port in 20 years, has already notched some successes. HealthEast Medical Transportation service recently broke ground for a 44,000-square-foot medical transportation and training facility on Arcade Street, which is the far-western edge of Beacon Bluff. And Baldinger Bakery, a local institution since the 1880s, is expected to break ground this spring on a 144,000-square-foot building at Phalen Boulevard and Atlantic Street. Taken together, the two developments represent nearly 14 acres of the 61-acre project.

The five existing 3M buildings represent the historic core of the company’s original campus and retrofitting them for reuse is considered efficient, environmentally desirable and historically responsible. When completed, Beacon Bluff will fill the center of the Phalen Corridor, crowning a 15-year effort to transform a once-polluted rail corridor into a thriving East Side neighborhood.

One person who watched the unveiling ceremony with obvious approval was Barbara Raye, whose company, the Center for Policy, Planning and Performance, has been working for the past year to bring together the various stakeholders, planners and community members to formulate a development plan. As she surveyed the audience dominated by project participants, Raye seemed pleased.

“The energy here is very positive,” she said. “Everyone seems to be going in the right direction.”

The Port has retained the firm of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker to conduct an international search for companies interested in the rehabilitation and reuse of the historic 3M buildings. The Port will actively seek buyers for the remaining shovel-ready sites in Beacon Bluff.

“We’ve still got a lot to do,” said Monte Hilleman, the Port’s vice president of development. “But we’re moving forward.”

A 121-year-old Saint Paul baker and a stalwart medical transportation company have agreed to serve as bookends to the Saint Paul Port Authority’s largest redevelopment project in 20 years, involving most of the 3M Co.’s Saint Paul Campus and two adjacent parcels. The Port’s Board of Commissioners approved land sales for Baldinger Bakery and HealthEast Medical Transportation. The purchase agreements come a little less than a year after the Port purchased most of the 3M Co.’s Saint Paul Campus. Closing is expected by year’s end.

This is a critical modernization project to keep Baldinger competitive in the marketplace, and allows breathing room for HealthEast Medical Transportation to expand its operations, Port President Louis Jambois said.

Baldinger will bring 72 workers to its new site and HealthEast, 122 workers, Jambois said, adding: The projects increase the citys industrial tax base and provide a well-needed boost to East Side revitalization efforts.

The Port has agreed to sell the 9-acre former Griffin Wheelworks site to Baldinger for $450,000. The baker then is expected to invest about $30 million to build and equip a 130,000-square-foot building on the south side of Phalen Boulevard and just west of Johnson Parkway on Saint Pauls East Side. The Port purchased the former Griffin site in 2006 and considers it part of an overall redevelopment of land between the Phalen Corridor and East Seventh Street.

The company will use part of the Port Authoritys New Market Tax Credit Allocation to fund construction. In addition to bringing 72 workers to the site, Baldinger has agreed to add 40 more employees during its 10-year workforce agreement with the Port Authority.

The company has a longstanding business and financial relationship with Chicago, IL-based East Balt Inc., which bakes hamburger buns for the McDonalds restaurant chain; East Balt and Baldinger are diversified in their customer and product bases.

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to stay in Saint Paul as we have for more than 120 years, Baldinger President Steve Baldinger said during a recent Port Authority Board Meeting. Thank you for all of the work you did to make this happen.

HealthEast Medical Transportation service and its 122 employees will soon operate out of a new 46,000 square foot building on the northwest corner of Reaney Avenue and Arcade Street. The site is part of 35 acres of the former 3M Saint Paul Campus, which the Port purchased last year. The Port is negotiating with 3M for the purchase of an additional 11 acres on the East Side.

HealthEast Medical Transportation, a subsidiary of HealthEast Care System, will buy the 4.5-acre site from the Port Authority for $425,000, and is expected to use a portion of the Ports New Market Tax Credit allocation to help finance $4.5 million in new construction on site.

The building will be used to service and provide a temporary storage area for ambulances, as well as house the companys administrative and classroom operations. Currently, the ambulance service is housed near Como Avenue and Front Street in Saint Paul.

As part of its 10-year workforce agreement with the Port, HealthEast Ambulance will pay most of its employees at least $11 an hour plus benefits and make every effort to ensure that at least 70 percent of its new hires will be Saint Paul residents.

Were excited to be the first new neighbor, Brad Anderson, senior director of HealthEast Medical Transportation, said. The new facility is a dream come true. It will serve our employees and allow us to expand our scope of services in the metropolitan area

Not since the development of the Ports 71-acre Westgate Business Center in the late 1980s has so much abandoned or underused property been redeveloped in an environmentally friendly way at one time. When combined with 15 acres of Port-owned property nearby, about 61 acres of land will be returned to productive use.

Dick Anfang is leaving big shoes to fill as he steps down from the Saint Paul Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners. “If you look around Saint Paul at any significant project in recent years, Dick has had a role in it,” says Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council.

Melander would know. During the past decade, he’s succeeded Anfang twice in top labor union positions and now he’s been appointed to take Anfangs seat on the Ports Board.

 Dick Anfang was a great mentor to me, Melander said. He’s not only been a good guy to work for, but he and I are also great friends.

Retirement is a fitting benefit for Anfang, who stepped down as head of the state building trades council on August 1 of this year and officially leaves the Ports Board this month. I spent 42 years in the union, 25 of those years as a full-time union representative, he said. During all those years I worked strongly to provide such benefits as pensions and they deserve to be used. So now its time.

But, typically, he wont be idle. In late summer, for instance, Anfang and his wife, Jaye Rykunyk (Chair of the River Centre Convention & Visitors Authority) took a five-week, 7,000-mile motorcycle ride to the West Coast and back, sleeping in a tent for all but four nights on a 31-night vacation.

Anfang joined the Ports Board seven years ago when he was appointed to a vacant seat by then-Mayor Norm Coleman. He was later reappointed by Colemans successor, Randy Kelly, and he served two one-year terms as the Boards Chair during his tenure. His was a strong voice for labor on the Board.

The Commission has always been a melding of people with various points of view, Anfang said. The building trades have been represented on it for many years because a huge part of the Port Authoritys function is job creation and economic development. When you have that as an objective, it makes sense to have a labor representative who is familiar with those issues.

Among the accomplishments during his years with the Port, Anfang lists the Rock-Tenn plan to repower the recycling plant in Saint Pauls Midway which protected more than 500 jobs, Anfang notes and the purchase for redevelopment of most of the 3M Cos campus on the East Side.

But ongoing functions like maintaining the St. Paul port creates a lot of unseen employment shipping, trucking, industry, agriculture, Anfang added. The Port Authoritys work impacts the local economy in ways many people dont realize.

When Joan Grzywinski was approached more than 15 years ago about joining the board of directors for what is now HealthEast Care System, she gave her stock answer: “No, I’m really busy.” At the time, she was serving on the boards of the St. Paul Port Authority, the St. Paul Foundation, the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. And she had a full-time job as president and district manager for Wells Fargo Bank’s St. Paul and South Minneapolis markets, where she oversaw operations for nine retail banks. She retired from Wells Fargo in 2002

 But Grzywinski reconsidered and joined HealthEasts board because she had seen, from her position as a banker, some of the early successes of the senior managers at HealthEast as they tried to cobble together a group of Lutheran and Baptist hospitals in the east metro into one cohesive system.

 It was like a Phoenix from the ashes, she said.

Grzywinski said she’s enjoyed serving on the HealthEast Board so long because it is an active board, with real oversight of the system rather than just fundraising or hobnobbing.

Over the years of serving on the 12-member board, Grzywinski has emphasized something she learned in banking – that the quality of service matters. She talked a lot in the beginning about the importance of being friendly, smiling and looking customers or patients in the eye.

HealthEast embraced those principles and expanded on them. It’s found ways to measure customer service and even include that in performance appraisals, she said.

They’re working now on writing thank you notes to each other and ensuring that the front-line supervisor walks the hospital floors and talks to patients and staff who are there, Grzywinski said. She played a role in other HealthEast accomplishments during her tenure, including the development of Woodwinds Health Campus in Woodbury and the $70 million renovation and expansion of St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul.

Ann Schrader, chief operating officer of HealthEast for the past nine years, praised Grzywinski’s relentless pursuit of patient and employee satisfaction.  HealthEast has been recognized as one of the Twin Cities’ Best Places to Work several years in a row by the Business Journal, partly because Grzywinski placed a strong emphasis on having highly engaged employees, Schrader said.

Without that, you can’t have good patient care.

September 18, 2009, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

RePort February 2009