BLAINE, Minn. – (Jan. 27, 2017) – As residential development continues to boom in Blaine, commercial development is following closely behind.
“Blaine is vary attractive to businesses. The unique thing about Blaine is that we are close to the urban core, but we do have sites were you could build a 100,000 square foot building” said Blaine’s Economic Development Coordinator Erik Thorvig.
As the city is excited to welcome new businesses to the community they also are putting a focus on their existing businesses and redevelopment of vacant commercial land.
“We always want to know are our existing businesses expanding” said Thorvig.
One of the most visible examples of a business expanding in Blaine is the new 130 foot 9 story office tower recently completed by Infinite Campus.
“This tower allows us to double our staff on site. Being in Blaine with all our staff is really important. Keeping everyone here helps in recruiting and retaining of employees” said Infinite Campus CEO Charlie Kratsch.
Infinite Campus is a high tech company managing student data for nearly 20 percent of U.S. students. Since building the first part of their headquarters a decade ago they have found a reliable partner in the city.
“Working from Blaine has been great from the start. Throughout our stay here it has been wonderful. When we knew we needed to expand we began engaging with the city and their development group and we proposed our tower. I would say that without the help that we have received from the city a project like this would not have been possible” said Kratsch.
One attribute that Blaine routinely uses to sell the community on perspective businesses is the variety of housing available in the community.
“We can go tell a potential business…we have a variety of housing from starter homes all the way up to executive homes” said Thorvig
The city is looking forward to more commercial development in 2017 and is pushing for redevelopment in a few key spots.
“One area in particular that we talked to our council about is the industrial park on 105th and Radisson Road. Another site that a lot of people ask about is the vacant K-Mart down by Northtown. You have about a 14, 15 acre piece of land, it is pretty substantial in size. It is not going to be just one use it will probably be a mix of retail and some higher density residential” said Thorvig.
According to Thorvig, the city does listen to residents about the types of development they want to see in the city. He knows many have been asking about a higher end grocery store for many years. Thorvig said the city is in ongoing discussions with Hy-Vee and expects a store in the near future.
As the residential development of Blaine continues so will the commercial and city officials believe that just as Blaine looks much different today than it did 20 years ago it will go through another transformation over the next 20 years.
“I think we are just at the tip of the iceberg as far as where Blaine is going to go” concluded Thorvig.
