What We’re Reading

Economic development is not just about factories, roads or tax incentives. It is about creating places where people want to gather, linger, invest and ultimately live.Now entering its sixth summer, Silver Bay’s free concert series “Music in the Park” has quietly transformed Friday nights into a community gathering place, drawing...Continue Reading

Minnesota companies have a long history of innovation, creating some of the “coolest” products to fuel our economy. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is again searching for the Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota!Manufacturing represents the second largest private-sector component of Minnesota’s GDP.315,000 Minnesotans work in manufacturing.Half of Minnesota’s Fortune 500...Continue Reading

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce announced that nominations are now open for its annual “Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota” contest.The chamber hosts the competition each year to highlight innovative and impactful products made in the state. Eligible products range from household items to medical equipment to food products.Key datesNominations are...Continue Reading

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is currently accepting applications for its Economic Development Grant program. Requests of up to $10,000 will be considered.The Economic Development Grant supports projects that strengthen local business activity, promote steady economic growth across SMIF’s 20-county region and Native nation, and encourage innovation, job creation and broader...Continue Reading

A northern Minnesota utility broke ground this week on a $900 million electric transmission project that’s expected to play a critical role in the state’s clean energy transition.Duluth-based Minnesota Power is upgrading and expanding a 50-year old high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line that runs 465 miles from Center,...Continue Reading

LP Building Solutions (LP), a leading manufacturer of high-performance building products, broke ground on a new LP® SmartSide® ExpertFinish® Trim & Siding manufacturing facility today in North Branch, Minnesota. The approximately 350,000-square-foot facility will be built on a recently acquired 120-acre site. It is expected to create 125 jobs at...Continue Reading

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Mission Area announced a modernization and restructuring effort to strengthen customer service, improve program accessibility, and enhance support for rural communities across the country. This effort aligns with USDA’s broader initiative to modernize operations, increase accountability, and ensure federal resources are positioned...Continue Reading

Over a year on from “Liberation Day,” trading partners and trade routes have changed, propelled by a shift by firms toward importing from countries with more favorable tariff terms. While the effects have not been immediate on industrial commercial real estate, they are starting to cycle through, proving to be...Continue Reading

This story about Cache Energy’s new kind of thermal battery that could warm campus buildings using stored wind energy was originally published by Canary Media.Twenty-one years ago, the University of Minnesota, Morris, became the first U.S. public university to draw power from an on-site, industrial-scale wind turbine. It added a...Continue Reading

Minnesota's electric cooperatives continue to seek practical ways to diversify local economies, attract new capital and foreign direct investment, and connect rural regions with new international partners.A recent trade mission to Ireland – supported by Great River Energy, Greater Mankato Growth and LITTUS – provided new insight into how Irish...Continue Reading

Each year, Area Development partners with Chmura Economics & Analytics to evaluate the performance of U.S. metropolitan areas based on the fundamentals that matter most to business expansion: workforce, economic strength, and adaptability. Using Chmura’s data-driven model — which equally weights Prime Workforce and Economic Strength — the Leading Metro...Continue Reading

A critical shortage of development-ready industrial sites is pushing states to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in product development. These proactive efforts aim to enhance the developability and speed-to-market of industrial property, ultimately attracting capital investment and job creation. Site Selection Group regularly monitors these investments, and this article...Continue Reading