Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

There’s been much discussion about our “Economic Development Toolbox” in Northfield over the past few months. Some of the conversations have been tied to trying to develop a business park on the land to be annexed from Greenvale Township, some of the references have been related to strengthening our existing businesses, and some of the discussions have focused on making Northfield more “business-friendly” in general.

Personally, I’d say, “all of the above”. In my mind, an economic development toolbox is a community’s package of programs that support existing, expanding, or recruiting businesses.

However, it’s not just the programs. During the second and third “summits” on in-fill and redevelopment that the NDDC held, with the support of the EDA, local developers, representing the private sector, noted that it’s not merely providing programs that facilitate economic development, it also involves removing obstacles. Therefore, enhancing your economic development toolbox would include both adding needed programs and removing unnecessary obstacles.

Adding programs and removing obstacles was clearly on the minds of many of the people attending our recent series of summits. Twenty-six of the one hundred ideas generated to promote in-fill development and redevelopment projects were related to this “strategy” of toolbox review and enhancement.

I did a bit of research on this subject last year. I participated in a webinar produced by the National Trust’s Main Street Program called “Business Recruitment and Retention: Two Sides of the Same Coin” and attended a conference organized by the Local Initiative Support Corporation that included a session titled “Neighborhood Change and Retail Recruitment Strategies”. Both experiences offered a list of potential tools for economic development.

The Retention Initiatives included Relocation Assistance, Debt-Restructuring, Short-Term Below Market Loans (for inventory or working capital), and Expansion (of goods and services) Assistance. The Recruitment Initiatives included Property Tax Rebates, Revolving Loan Funds, Providing Parking, and Land Assembly. The combination of the two lists represented almost two dozen initiatives to promote economic development in your community.

The Main Street folks called these initiatives “two sides of the same coin” and the instructor from LISC said “you get more economic leverage if your programs can support both retention and recruitment”. Based on others’ experiences, supporting both retention and recruitment would appear to be the surest path to economic vitality.

Staff from the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation met this morning to continue the forward progress on several shared initiatives. Here I am with Kathy Feldbrugge at Bittersweet.

Our topics included Market Analysis: updating the Retail Trade Analysis, reviewing existing market studies, gathering more detail on the markets for retail, tourism, culture, and business recruitment, and website enhancement. We’re preparing for an upcoming meeting focusing on this matter.

At that point, the third of the four Economic Development Partners, Blake Abdella of the Northfield Enterprise Center, stopped by to see us. He added input on the Retail Trade Analysis and updated us on his efforts to help apportion the workload for economic development.

Kathy and I then moved on to our Business Retention and Expansion work. We discussed assuring that we got a representative sampling of businesses, reporting important information to the EDA, fostering informal mentoring, identifying common business needs, and educating business people about existing programs (…which took us back to the website discussion). We also agreed that the EDA needed to serve as the advocate for business within the structure of municipal government.

Finally, we talked about our Shop Local Campaign. We may have come up with a clever approach to unifying our efforts with a subtle but powerful message, but we need to “talk with our people” before announcing it.

Thanks to David Ludescher for the amateur photography work. Not bad for an attorney, David!

The Northfield Economic Development Authority offers Micro Grants for emerging or expanding businesses. Micro grant funds can be used for a wide variety of purposes including, but not limited to, leasehold improvements, gap financing, or working capital.

This financial tool is officially known as the Clement F. Shearer Micro Grant Program. Clem was Dean of Budgeting and Planning at Carleton College and was a long-time member of the EDA. He was instrumental in formulating the micro grant program.

The grants are typically up to $5,000. Larger grant amounts may be awarded by the EDA Board if the grant advances an initiative contained in the Economic Development Plan of the EDA.

For more information, visit the EDA’s web page. You may also contact Jody Gunderson at 645-3018.

Photo courtesy of Griff Wigley.

At a recent Downtown Forum, a number of attendees suggested that promoting Northfield’s assets to the colleges’ alums might be a worthwhile pursuit. In fact, Carleton College has already produced an artful piece of promotion.

This is a photograph of the calendar on the wall of the NDDC office. The picture for February is Tiny’s Dogs All Day. Ah, just looking at it makes my mouth water.

The calendar that Carleton produced to send out to its alums is full of beautiful images of Northfield’s assets, including the 4th Street Bridge and the Ames Mill Falls for March, the Rueb-N-Stein for May, Historic Building Facades on Division Street for June, and the James-Younger Gang riding away from the Northfield Historic Society’s Bank in September. The cover of the calendar features a creative shot of the DJJD Raid Re-enactment with the title “Northfield: Carleton’s Home Town”.

I hope that the calendar is as effective in attracting alums to Northfield as the photo for February was in luring me to Tiny’s. In fact, I’m heading there for lunch right now.

Yeah, it’s shameless self-promotion…me and Lance and Justin are playing three sets, starting at 5:30 p.m. at The Contented Cow, 302B Division Street. Other events on Friday, February 6th are the One Act Plays, 7:30 p.m., Northfield High School Auditorium, 1400 South Division Street, Karaoke, 9 p.m., The Rueb-N-Stein, 503 Division Street, and Carey Langer, The Taven Lounge, riverside of the historic Archer House, 212 Division Street.

Then Saturday, February 7th, it’s Keyfest, starting at 5 p.m., with “awesome music from great Northfield musicians/bands including Abby Payne, Detective Vetriliquist, Aaron Frederick, Zebra Warning, Joe Dobrow, Broken Tree Fingers, Riley Mcgillivray, Goat, Feedback Frenzy, and D.E.A.F., at The Key, 303 South Water Street, the One Act Plays, 7:30 p.m., High School Auditorium, DJ Music, 9 p.m., The Rueb-N-Stein, Karaoke, 9 p.m., Fieldhouse, 620 South Water Street, Northwoods Eclectic, The Contented Cow, and the 2008 Best of Northfield Male Musician, Jon Manners, at The Tavern Lounge.

Of course, Sunday, February 8th, as always, it’s Politics and a Pint, 6 p.m., Northern Roots Session, 7:30 p.m., and Quiz Night, 8 p.m., all at The Cow.