Drawn to Rochester for medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic, Traci Downs and her husband, Hunter, originally thought they’d be in southeast Minnesota for only six weeks.
That was a few years and a business relocation ago.
Now permanent residents, the Downses this summer plan to open one of the first buildings in the state’s largest-ever economic development project. Their renovated Conley-Maass building, a former woolen mill and factory just blocks from the Mayo Clinic, will house, among other things, a restaurant, two tech companies and a “Maker’s Lab” equipped with a 3-D printer.
The Destination Medical Center continues to move forward, and on Thursday, Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede said it might have taken a big step.
DMC, which is backed by Mayo Clinic and the state of Minnesota, is expected to transform areas of Rochester and add up to 40,000 jobs over the next two decades.
One of the sections expected to be worked on is called “The Heart of the City” which is located near Peace Plaza.
Mayor Brede says the city is putting together an advisory committee made up of nine to 12 people to help guide the project. Their job will include getting proposals from companies and possibly making suggestions to the City Council.
Maine Heights will have 359 new units and will be built along Hwy. 52 in the southwestern part of the city.
A wave of new apartments opened in Rochester last year, and even more are planned this year with both suburban and downtown projects in the development pipeline.
It’s unclear whether the surge is just a normal upturn in the Rochester market’s building cycle or if it’s being spurred by the Mayo Clinic’s effort, with local and state help, for expansion. That development is called Destination Medical Center and has a goal to add 45,000 new jobs over 20 years to the city. Some apartment developers are specifically mentioning the Mayo’s expansion as a reason for investing in the market.
The city’s surge in new multifamily units — while small in numbers compared to the apartment-building binge in the Twin Cities — is impressive for sheer magnitude.
The city of Rochester administrative staff has put its support firmly behind the use of tax-increment financing in conjunction with one of the city’s most public development proposals, a Holiday Inn at Second Street Southwest.
City administration spent about three weeks compiling a report that reviewed development issues related to the Holiday Inn development and other development questions in the Second Street Southwest corridor. City Administrator Stevan Kvenvold provided the report to the Post-Bulletin on Tuesday.
“The city staff after that last (Destination Medical Center Corp.) Board meeting took it upon themselves to keep getting some information put together so we could keep continuing and hopefully make some decision for the developer, who has been at it for some time,” Kvenvold said Tuesday.
A new report states that Rochester’s new six billion dollar Destination Medical Center district should expand existing district energy systems, encourage or require developers to follow state efficiency building requirements and maximize onsite renewable energy. The multi-billion-dollar plan calls for attracting developers over the next two decades to construct 12 million square feet of offices in an effort to create 35-to-45-thousand jobs.
Public spaces are as integral to Destination Medical Center plans as the private development that will surround them, and the Rochester City Council is nearly ready to take a step ahead in designing those spaces.
The council at a Monday committee of the whole meeting discussed plans to advertise for public space design services, for the DMC subdistrict Heart of the City. The city would coordinate with the DMC Corp. Board to issue a request for proposals, said Gary Neumann, assistant city administrator.
Flurries of questions and conversation filled the spaces between people in two rooms at Forager Brewery on Thursday. Discussions compared the difference between a tunnel and a subway, between 30-year-old plans and current proposals and between what the landscape looks like today and the potential for decades in the future.
Ultimately, the focus of the gathering hosted by Imagine Kutzky was Rochester’s Second Street Southwest Corridor and what potential changes mean for the rest of Rochester.
Just as important, however, is what such an event means for the city and its residents. Conducted in an informal style, the gathering provided ample opportunity to connect with local activists, business leaders and city officials, all with the goal of sharing ideas and gathering information.
The city of Rochester has closed on the $6 million purchase of the historic Chateau Theatre.
The theater purchase is considered a Destination Medical Center project, which allows the expense to count toward the city’s $128 million contribution for public infrastructure costs. The Mayo Clinic paid $500,000 of the deal.
Rochester City Council President Randy Staver said it’s still unclear what the building’s long-term use and financial model will be.
A new occupant for the city of Rochester’s now-empty Fire Station No. 2 property at Silver Lake could shake up the way the city’s residents get around.
Rochester Park and Recreation Department staff announced at a Tuesday meeting they had been in discussions with Nice Ride Minnesota, a nonprofit bike-sharing and bike rental company founded in the Twin Cities. Nice Ride could be an anchor partner at the fire station property, said Paul Widman, Rochester park and recreation director.
Mayo Clinic officials are in the early stages of a 20-year, multi-billion dollar growth plan, the most ambitious economic development project in Minnesota history. Attracting millennials to Rochester is critical to the success of that project, the Destination Medical Center.
Getting young professionals excited enough to come and stay, however, may be an uphill climb.
The city of Rochester has closed on the $6 million purchase of the historic Chateau Theatre.
A new occupant for the city of Rochester’s now-empty Fire Station No. 2 property at Silver Lake could shake up the way the city’s residents get around.
Mayo Clinic officials are in the early stages of a 20-year, multi-billion dollar growth plan, the most ambitious economic development project in Minnesota history. Attracting millennials to Rochester is critical to the success of that project, the Destination Medical Center.