Port Authority: Strong partner for a strong community The Saint Paul Port Authority works its industrial-development niche — as each and every one of its partners works theirs — to build a better community. Our efforts over the past 80 years to provide businesses with a clean industrial site on which to expand and a trained workforce to help them prosper have the added benefit of strengthening our police, fire and public works services, as well as our libraries, parks and recreation centers. We understand this symbiotic partnership of thriving industrial businesses and a stronger Saint Paul. So does the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a research and strategy organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. That’s why we commissioned ICIC to analyze the impact of industrial development on Saint Paul services and amenities, as it has done in cities throughout the country. Early indications from ICIC are that industrial development is as essential as ever to a thriving city. Industrial tax parcels underwrite more than $65 million in annual revenue to support our Saint Paul quality of life — and nearly half of that revenue comes from businesses in our 21 inner-city centers. Businesses on industrial sites also give much more than they receive. Industry’s demands on city services like police and fire and public works are smaller than its commercial, retail and residential counterparts. Industrial businesses provide jobs that pay well, which, in turn, enable people to reinvest in their homes, neighborhoods and communities. This domino effect helps strengthen public schools and community arts and recreation amenities. In essence, the positive economic impact of industrial development encompasses the entire Saint Paul community. You will read more about the ICIC findings in this annual report. While the report will look forward, our retrospective of 2011 shows we had a very good year. We again expanded each of our four lines of business, and we expect this prosperity to continue this year, despite a very tough economic climate in Minnesota and throughout the country.
Economic Development On the banks of the Mississippi River, we finished construction of a new slip at our Southport River Terminal and saw our harbor operator proceed with plans to substantially overhaul operations at our Barge Terminal 2. Inland, at our Beacon Bluff Business Center, we completed preparation of the largest single site available for development currently under way in the City of Saint Paul: 11 acres, part of which once served as the international headquarters for the 3M Co. We also installed a new road through the site from Phalen Boulevard to Forest Street. The overall Beacon Bluff project, comprising 61 acres on Saint Paul’s East Side, continued to receive recognition from a variety of sources in 2011. Among them: The National Demolition Association Environmental Excellence Award for environmental stewardship in demolition projects; Environmental Initiative’s Sustainable Communities Award; and the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers Seven Wonders of Engineering Award for the Port’s installation of its next-generation stormwater system. That system, by the way, treats previously untreated runoff from 163 acres of Saint Paul before it wends its way to the
WESTMINSTER
Mississippi River. In June, together with our joint equity partner, Wellington Management Inc., we broke ground on a $3 million, 60,000-square-foot building at our River Bend Business Center, which is just south of Randolph Avenue and Shepard Road. And in July, a company called BanBro began construction of a $5 million, 52,000-square-foot headquarters building at our Chatsworth Business Center at Chatsworth Street and Pierce Butler Route. BanBro owns two companies (Terrybear Urns & Memorials and River of Goods) that sell a variety of products primarily through the Internet. The company completed construction of the new facility in December 2011. Both our Trillion BTU Energy Conservation and New Markets Tax Credits programs exceeded projections. Trillion BTU, which is one of the first in the nation to use energy conservation as a statewide economic development tool, financed 22 projects through 2011. As a result, nearly $13.5 million has been invested in conservation measures to help companies reduce energy costs. The projects have resulted in 142 construction jobs and more than 463 retained and new jobs in businesses receiving Trillion BTU assistance. The Economic Development Association of Minnesota honored the program with its 2011 Partnership Award. The Port’s allocation of federal New Markets Tax Credits to help Baldinger Bakery finance its expansion into Beacon Bluff also was honored at a national conference in 2011. The Novogradac Community Development Foundation honored the Port at a New Markets Tax Credit Investors Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Baldinger recently opened its $29 million, 144,000-square-foot bakery on the eastern end of Beacon Bluff.
Workforce Development On the workforce development front, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded us a $300,000 Brownfields Job Training grant to be administered by our subsidiary, Employer Solutions Inc. EPA Regional Administrator Susan Hedman recognized our leadership in brownfield redevelopment. The grant will help finance training of 90 students and the placement of at least 70 percent of graduates in environmental remediation jobs. We are proud of our track record of providing businesses with clean land on which to expand in Saint Paul, which in turn provides expanded opportunities
IN SAINT PAUL’S EAST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD
for Saint Paul workers. Currently, 526 companies reside in our business centers and river terminals, employing more than 17,000 people. The average wage of workers in our business centers is $23.06 an hour plus benefits. On another matter in 2011, we settled five years of litigation over the disposition
of a bond fund that was used in the 1970s and 1980s to finance economic development projects in Saint Paul. We believe the settlement is a win for the more than 2,600 bondholders still in the fund, the community in which we live and work, and the Port Authority. Finally, we continually search out opportunities to create quality jobs, expand our local tax base, and advance sustainable development in Saint Paul. After all, that’s why we exist. You can help us in this search by telling us how we’re doing. Call us. Write us. Email us. Stop by. We believe that working together we can help Saint Paul grow and prosper.