Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

The NDDC has been working to realize its vision for the Building for Creative Professionals (BCP) since the Artspace Projects’ concept for the former Middle School faded. In fact, we’ve been at it for over two years.

In order to create an architectural gateway to Northfield, foster a community of residents that builds on our existing asset of creative professionals, and establish a building that retains and attracts talented workers and desirable jobs, the NDDC conceptualized the BCP. Although the challenges have been many, progress continues.

During the past six months, the NDDC has secured grants from the Minnesota Housing Partnership and financing from the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority, moved forward on assembling debt and equity from private local sources for the land acquisition, and made remarkable progress toward securing a major grant from a local employer. We have found new allies in our pursuit of funding, discussed teaming with local architects and contractors, and met with potential partners.

We have secured a $100,000 predevelopment loan to cover the costs of initial architectural and legal work and had planned to start this work at the beginning of March. However, we’ve decided not to spend that money until we have site control of the property where we plan to build. We also need to have site control in order to apply for tax credits from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

The NDDC continues to be committed to creating much-needed workforce housing in Northfield, respecting the limits of local financial resources, and valuing the contributions of local workers. Perhaps more importantly, the NDDC continues to believe that there is need of and support for an architectural gateway to Northfield, the tremendous potential to be leveraged from our asset of creative professionals, and a building that attracts and retains talented workers and desirable jobs.

The NDDC has worked on this project for two years; the community has envisioned it for much longer. We will continue striving toward our goal.

I passed some of the gals organizing Girls Nite Out.

They were distributing black, white and pink balloons that read “Shop Local”

Hey, there’s a party I can get behind…

…maybe even the Full Monty.

By the way, don’t call me a stripper, I prefer the title “exotic dancer”.

The following is provided by Keith Covey, NDDC Board secretary:

The April NDDC board meeting opened with the election of Mary Rossing to the board. President Dan Bergeson and other members welcomed her to her first board meeting. Mary is proprietor of Present Perfect, a Division Street gift and specialty store. She previously served as board member and president of the Northfield Historical Society.

A new Marketing and Promotion Committee was established by the board “to focus on generating more foot traffic downtown by coordinating events and advertising on behalf of the entire district.” New board member Mary Rossing and third year board member Linda Schneewind, of digs, will be co-chairs. They are recruiting other downtown business representatives to join the effort. The committee will coordinate NDDC promotions that previously were conducted by ad hoc task groups and anticipates putting new ideas to work as well. One source of new activities is expected to be the Retail Support Strategies (RSS) Task Force. That group is a joint project of the NDDC and Chamber of Commerce, with funding from the Economic Development Authority. By mid-summer, it is expected to identify new strategies for expanding retail traffic in all Northfield retail districts.

The Board agreed to cosponsor, with six downtown businesses, a new radio calendar of Northfield entertainment and cultural events on KYMN radio. It will air three times on Fridays and Saturdays.

The board is collaborating with the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Northfield in campaigning for early improvement of Highway 19 between Northfield and I35. This is a high priority for the entire Northfield area. President Dan Bergeson reported to the board that he is coordinating with other groups in urging the Minnesota Department of Transportation to reschedule improvements for an earlier date than 10 to 15 years in the future, which its current schedule calls for.

Board vice president Joe Grundhoefer announced that the second “Taste of Northfield” event is scheduled for July 19 in Bridge Square. Grundhoefer is chairing the event and is recruiting local restaurants to plan and participate in the event.

As I was following up on the “entertainment” for Friday’s Girls Nite Out, I noticed a bike rider sitting in Bridge Square. I didn’t recognize him so I thought that maybe he was a visitor to Northfield.

Indeed, his name is Brad Gluth, and he rode his bike down from Burnsville this morning. He said it was beautiful weather, he took the day off from work, and Northfield was a perfect destination.

I told him there was some controversy about bringing bike trails, and bike riders, to town. He asked, “what, they might stop and spend some money?” Really, I’ve never met him before and didn’t bribe him.

He said that he’s been on two bike rides across the United States and many bike rides in different states. He said that we’re really lucky to have such nice bike trails in Minnesota.

He asked if I ever rode an Iron Man. I said “No”. He said that he wasn’t really too enthusiastic about those events. He said that those riders weren’t very respectful about sharing the road. He said that they were nothing like the riders that use bike trails.

I’m hoping that maybe Brad will read this blog and maybe go to Locally Grown and particpate in the bike trail discussion.

Hey Brad, thanks for the picture and thanks for visiting Northfield.

In case you didn’t notice, there’s a great cooperative advertising piece in today’s (May 9th) Strib South section.

On the bottom of pages S18 and S19, there’s marketing material about my favorite place, Northfield, and ads for a number of local businesses, including digs, Sisters Ugly, The Art Store, Kids on Division, and The Rare Pair, stores that also happen to be selling tickets for this Friday’s Girls Nite Out.

The images in the promotional section help to reinforce our reputation within the region for History, Arts and Green, and the advertisements help to strengthen our image around the state of fun shopping experiences. It helps “build the buzz“.

The piece was organized by Northfield’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. Bravo, CVB!