Down South
by Matt Krumrie If Joe Robbie had gotten his way, Dakota County would be a far different place than it is today.
In the early 1960s Robbie was the chairman of the Minnesota Municipal Commission, a government organization that had strong input on annexation issues.
Robbie, who eventually became the popular owner of the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise, believed bigger was better. He dreamed of one giant city consisting of what is now Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville and Rosemount.
Those six cities today make up the economic heartbeat of Dakota County, now the third most populous county in Minnesota.
Robbie’s dream never came to fruition. Instead, Dakota County features a combination of first-ring suburbs (South Saint Paul, West St. Paul, Mendota Heights), growing second-ring suburbs (Inver Grove Heights and Eagan), sprawling, wealthy outer-ring suburbs (Burnsville, Apple Valley, Lakeville), former farm towns rapidly expanding (Hastings and Farmington), and numerous small towns (Hampton, Randolph, Miesville) and townships (Empire, Castle Rock, Nininger and Eureka).
The majority of residents and businesses of the 576-square-mile county are concentrated in the northern one-third, while the southern two-thirds remain largely rural. Dakota County lies within the confluence of three of the four major rivers draining the state of Minnesota: the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers on the northern border and the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers on the eastern border. The county's development and history have been greatly influenced by its proximity to these rivers.
Two major highways (Highway 494 and Interstate 35), as well as highways 77, 52, 13 and 110, among others, make the cities within Dakota County easily accessible. Add in the proximity to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the Mall of America in Bloomington, and downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Dakota County features a number of necessary ingredients for a healthy economic climate.
Large employers
Eagan, with 65,000 residents, is home to many of the largest corporations in Dakota County, including Thompson West (the largest employer in the county with 7,000 employees), Blue Cross/Blue Shield (3,000), Lockheed Martin (1,750), United Parcel Service (1,435), Northwest Airlines (1,100) and Cray Inc. (900).
Other major employers include Goodrich Sensor Systems in Burnsville (1,150), CHS Inc. in Inver Grove Heights (1,000), Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville (880), Flint Hills Resources in Rosemount (850) and Smead Manufacturing Co. in Hastings (625).
But what drives the economy of this county is the many small businesses. Many owners say they believe Dakota County is a great place to live and to work. That’s the way Paul Brunger of Rosemount-based Intellifeed Inc. feels. And he came to Minnesota all the way from England.
Intellifeed, which employs 15 people and generates $4 million per year in revenue, produces packaging machines used by major corporations such as Kraft, Lego, ConAgra and Johnson & Johnson to automate processes that normally must be done by hand.
The company moved from a rented space in Eagan to a 19,000-square-foot, $1.2-million facility in Rosemount’s business park after receiving a land write-down of $203,900 for the 3-acre lot. The move coincided with the introduction of new technology that allowed Intellifeed to increase production by nearly five times. President and owner Steve Kayser lives in Eagan, a 10-minute drive from Rosemount.
“We had some incentive to stay here with the grant,” says Brunger, who has known Kayser for 23 years and is Intellifeed’s European and U.S. sales manager. “But overall, we feel this location is good for us because most of us live in the area, and it’s a good place to be, and the quality of life is good. It took some convincing to get me over here, but I’m happy I am here.”
Darlene Miller, CEO and president of Burnsville-based Permac Industries, a manufacturer of custom precision-machined parts, moved her company from Bloomington in Hennepin County to Burnsville in 1998 when she purchased a 17,000-square-foot building for $800,000. Now the company has grown from $1 million in revenue almost 10 years ago to 31 employees and $4 million annual revenue.
“The thing that convinced me to move to Burnsville was that they seemed to want me here. Working with the city, it was actually enjoyable,” says Miller, who purchased the company in 1993 with a $500,000 SBA loan. “The trust in the business climate is so different.”
Health care hub
Burnsville, which had a population of 60,200 according to the 2000 U.S. Census, has fast become the hub of Dakota County’s health care and medical industry. The city is creating a new initiative called the Burnsville Medical Alliance, which will use its current health care and med-tech base as a means to attract more of the same.
Based around Fairview Ridges Hospital, the BMA is a collaborative effort between south-of-the-river communities that features 150 different types of health-care service providers, and another 25 med-tech and supply companies.
“We’re not in a position to attract a large number of large medical companies, but we are able to attract those companies with roughly five to 50 employees,” says Skip Nienhaus, economic development coordinator for the city of Burnsville. “When these companies are in a cluster, it’s easier to work together for all involved.”
Nienhaus then rattles off what he believes are positives to doing business in Dakota County: proximity to both metro areas, assets such as Dakota County Technical College (Rosemount) and Inver Hills Community College (Inver Grove Heights), proximity to the University of Minnesota research facilities, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (about an hour away), and two of Minnesota’s major roadways, Interstate 35W and Highway 494.
The last item, however, is a concern when trying to attract business or employees south of the river, says Mike Turner, owner of Varsity Photos Inc. in Burnsville. Turner is also a member of the Dakota County Board of Commissioners and a member of the I-35W Solutions Alliance.
Interstate 35W and 35E split in Burnsville, with 35W heading into Minneapolis, and 35E heading into St. Paul. Like most areas in the Twin Cities, the population has simply outgrown the highways. At the same time, that dreaded commute north of the river has likely kept potential employees in the county, Turner says, because they don’t want to deal with traffic issues to and from work.
Turner, who opened the first one-hour photo lab in the state in 1981 in Burnhill Plaza in Burnsville, has watched his business grow steadily over the years. He now employs about 20 people at his Lynville Properties location on Portland Avenue South just off of Hwy. 13 in Burnsville, and has about 40 other contracted workers throughout the state and Midwest. They help the company produce about 400,000 high school athletic team and individual photos per year.
No more farmland
Just south of Burnsville is Lakeville, a city of about 50,000 that was once rural farmland that now is exploding in residential growth and recently opened up its second high school.
Lakeville is also home to Airlake Industrial Park, the second largest industrial park in the state, with more than 150 manufacturing and industrial businesses providing more than 4,200 jobs. Additional sites of one acre up to 100 acres are available for industrial development. Lakeville is also home to the Airlake Airport, a Metropolitan Airports Commission reliever airport. Progressive Rail Inc. offers short-line rail service to Airlake Industrial Park.
“We’ve grown slow on the commercial side,” says Todd Bornhauser, executive director of the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce. “Like many developing cities, Lakeville residents are torn between growth and keeping that small-town feel. We’re going through growing pains and still figuring out which direction to go.”
One company that bas been a staple in northern Dakota County is West St. Paul-based Sexton Printing. The company, founded in 1949 along St. Paul’s West Side, moved to West St. Paul in the 1960s, and currently employs 70 workers in its 50,000-square-foot facility.
“We’ve been fiscally conservative,” says President Tim Sexton, a third-generation owner of the family-run business. “And most of the money and profits we have made over the years, we have reinvested into the company, whether it be through ongoing training or through equipment purchases.”
Located just off of Robert Street, home to northern Dakota County’s largest retail strip, Sexton Printing has 25 employees who have been with the company 20 years or longer, including one employee about to celebrate a 40th anniversary.
For Kelly Schaefbauer it was all about location. He’s president of West St. Paul-based DanburyIT, a six-employee information technology provider.
He sold the company five years ago and the new owner moved it to Plymouth. He bought it back, moved it back to West St. Paul, and has seen revenue increase from about $150,000 to $300,000 in the past few years.
“I really didn’t see too many other IT providers that do what we do south of the river,” says Schaefbauer, who lives in West St. Paul, and was in a college fraternity with West St. Paul Mayor John Zanmiller. “We wanted to focus on that area to attract new clients, and it has succeeded.”
Shedding stereotypes
South Saint Paul is shedding its image as a town driven by stockyards and meat-packing industries. The 6.5-mile stretch along the Concord Street corridor is now home to a variety of businesses. The Bridgepoint Business Park, a 120-acre combination of the above industries, replaced much of the space formerly used as stockyards and packing plants.
“It’s been a challenge to change that stereotype, but the companies we have in there now are all going strong, and providing South Saint Paul with a new and diverse business base,” says Kevin McKinnon, executive director of Progress Plus, a public and private partnership designed to accommodate planned development in Inver Grove Heights and South St. Paul.
Meanwhile, Richard Schmitt, president of Richard Schmitt CPA, a four-person accounting firm, grew up working as a caddie near what is now his Mendota Heights-based office. Mendota Heights has 11,000 people. “It’s a little bit like a small town where everybody knows each other,” says Schmitt, who lives on St. Paul’s East side. “But at the same time, it’s a thriving suburb that’s close to St. Paul, and not far from Minneapolis.”
Dan Rogers, operations manager for Eagan-based CaDan Corp., a 12-year-old computer hardware and software services company, is happy to work and live in Eagan. “There’s a very proactive business climate,” he says. “There’s a dedicated group of people who want to move forward. That’s what stands out to me.”
[contact] Todd Bornhauser, Lakeville Chamber of Commerce: 952.469.2020; todd@lakevillechambercvb.org. Phil Brunger, Intellifeed Inc.: 651.423.7220; intellifeedtemp1@intellifeed.net. Kevin McKinnon, Progress Plus: 651.451.2266; kevin@progressplus.org. Darlene Miller, Permac Industries: 952.746.0208; dmiller@permacindustries.com. Skip Nienhaus, city of Burnsville: 952.895.4454; skip.nienhaus@ci.burnsville.mn.us. Dan Rogers, CaDan Corp.: 651.456.5760; drogers@cadan.com. Kelly Schaefbauer, DanburyIT: 651.451.3074; kschaefbauer@danburyIT.com. Richard Schmitt, Richard Schmitt CPA: 651.454.0141; tigertax@citilink.com. Tim Sexton, Sexton Printing Inc.: 651.457.9255; tim@sextonprinting.com. Mike Turner, Varsity Photos Inc.: 952.895.9078, ext. 117, mturner@varsityphotos.com
