Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

Apparently it’s not a unique challenge to Northfield. According to Jim Segedy and Tom Daniels in “Small Town Design: Getting it Right”, communities all across America are working to accomodate and even encourage growth without losing their unique character.

The characteristics often cited as representing this much-valued character include tree-lined streets and sidewalks, well-kept homes and businesses, “slow, easy moving traffic” and “a town square where residents can shop and socialize”. Perhaps most interesting to me, the authors suggest that the ideal town “functions well as a place, both to live and make a living”. Finally, it has “a sense of identity, a sense of history, and its own special character”.

Preserving existing assets, cherished buildings, well-loved spaces, and successful neighborhoods is the first step in encouraging growth without losing character. As the new is added to the old, fitting it together through choices regarding the facade, size, style, color and materials, as well as connecting with existing patterns of development, is the next step. The final piece of the strategy is strengthening the existing assets with additional investments, such as signage, benches, streetlights, and planters. According to the authors, the leverage of these investments is increased when they are in the context of a pedestrian scale small town.

Attracting new development will only pay off if you protect and enhance your existing assets. Doing growth right benefits both the old and the new.

Between the HRA’s staff report and various newspaper articles, I’m fielding many questions like that in the title of this blog. In spite of my best efforts, there are a few people out there that think that the NDDC is going to discriminate against anyone who doesn’t call themselves an artist.

First, no one associated with the NDDC has ever called it the “Artist Building”. Although it is also true that no one at the NDDC is particularly wild about the name “Building for Creative Professionals”, the working title was selected to clearly identify the target of the marketing efforts.

The phrase is based on ideas in Richard Florida’s book “The Rise of the Creative Class” that was discussed at an NDDC Forum in March of 2005. The jobs in this group start with artists, designers, and media workers. From the very beginning, I added architects, chemists (due to my close working relationship with the great, late Don Tarr), and computer programmers. Since then, I’ve heard that most people also include educators, health professionals, and even lawyers.

I’m sorry, but I’m drawing the line at lawyers, unless or until my board of directors overrules me.

Back in the ’80s, when I was earning my MBA at the College of St. Thomas, we referred to these people as “Knowledge Workers”. They all made their livings by coming up with creative new ways to approach the same old problems. In fact, I remember reading “The Knowledge Executive”, a book by Harlan Cleveland, Dean of the Hubert Humphrey Institute, that suggested that it was going to take a new type of manager to provide leadership to this new type of worker.

Depending on the source, and the professions included, it’s usually considered to make up between 25 and 50 percent of the U. S. workforce. I would venture to say that in Northfield it’s probably close to two-thirds of the workforce. In fact, if you are a proponent of Asset Based Community (or Economic) Development, you probably would be advocating for efforts that would attract more of these types of jobs and these types of workers to our town.

However, none of this matters for the Building for Creative Professionals, because our marketing efforts are going to include not only vocational creatives but those that practice avocational creativity.

So, if you’re one of the 67% of Northfield’s workforce that is creative in your professional life or if you find that you explore your creativity in your private time, and you’re looking for rental housing in an authentic downtown, within a community that values art and culture, we hope that you’ll consider the Building for Creative Professionals. We think that our efforts will bring a positive contribution to Northfield.

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.

This might appear to be a couple of down-on-their-luck graffitti taggers. Unable to afford spray paint, they’ve been reduced to using tape to mark their territory.

However, I happen to know these ladies; they’re actually school teachers, so maybe they’re making some kind of political statement through a performance of agitprop.

Deciphering the message, it seems clear that art is involved…so it probably has something to do with Art Crawl.

It’s time to head back to Minnesota. I’ve enjoyed my stay in Seattle and learned a few things too.

I think that I’ve further developed my sustainable design knowledge base for the Building for Creative Professionals, refined my perspective on community planning issues, particularly as it relates to the environment, and even picked up a few ideas for the Retail Support Strategies Task Force.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed my stay in Seattle but I’ll be glad to get back to Northfield… with its Blue Monday, Bittersweet, Quality Bakery and Hideaway!