The Port Authority has helped hundreds of manufacturing businesses find and get into the perfect location. We also take underdeveloped and abandoned land, and revitalize the space for new businesses and other uses by the community.

After cleaning up often heavily polluted sites, the Port Authority offers these sites for sale for $1 through the local real estate community. These brokers bring interested prospects to the Port. Like any negotiated sale,  the Port attempts to get the best fit between the needs of the employer and the needs of the community in its business centers. We require employers pay their workers at least one job per 1,000 square feet of proposed building space. Businesses must also agree to pay their employees at least $11 per hour plus benefits, and 70 percent of the new employees the businesses add over at 10-year period must be Saint Paul residents. The Port imposes penalties if the workforce agreement is not met, but that has been the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of employers in our business centers meet or exceed our pay, job and building design covenants.

Since 1995 we have returned nearly 155 acres of land to the tax rolls. the result is a combined $165 million in private real estate investment in the neighborhoods that ring downtown. During that same period, we helped create or retain nearly 27,000 jobs in the East Metro through our various workforce development programs.

Port Authority Business Centers