Wide open spaces (will build to suit)

The Duluth News-Tribune reports today on the practice of public entities building speculative buildings on the Iron Range to attract business. The appeal, according to the stories sources (all governmental), is that these buildings are modern, attractive and can be customized at public expense for any company willing to sign a long term deal that involves new jobs.

Public involvement in the economic development process remains necessary and wise. And you know I’m all about jobs and new growth on the Range. Still, I wonder why these projects always seem to favor expensive new buildings on the edge of town as opposed to the regeneration of vast amounts of empty buildings and spaces inside our Range towns. In a sense, this is a smaller scale version of the same zoning problem that many urban and exurban communities face.

And people do notice. I often provide informal “immersion counseling” for people new to the Range. One political operative new to the area noticed the same spec building discussed in today’s DNT, the giant building by the Hibbing airport, on his way into town. “What’s the deal with that?” was an approximation of his comment, as even this outsider could recognize the stank of economic desperation that the building seemed to kick out. The empty building has also been the subject of water cooler talk around the central Range since it was built. At $1.6 million, the investment by public entities in that building is enormous. While I understand the desire to create managed growth, I can’t help but think certain buildings like this one are a little heavy on dreaming and a little light on long term planning.

I still think the best strategy for community growth includes strong, attractive infrastructure. The kinds of companies that swoop in for low-cost customized buildings are the same that can swoop out just as easily. We want to create an environment where businesses develop independently and people live comfortably and prosperously. That may sound conservative but in practice it requires some very progressive action (eg. public investment in high speed internet and comprehensive highway and rail improvements).

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    Anyone who looks at Hibbing understands that new development has been heavily subsidized at the expense of the existing downtown and commercial property. That hasn’t made Hibbing a better place to live and it hasn’t made it a better place to do business. The result is that property values, both residential and commercial, in Hibbing are depressed. That doesn’t really benefit anyone expect the folks who make money on the new construction.

    At the same time, the money spent on empty buildings would be far better spent on updating public infrastucture. Grand Rapids has super-high capacity optical fibre to the doors of every resident. Essential world class communication infrastructure. While the Iron Range is still using copper wire despite having an enourmous amount of public resources available for economic development.

    Empty buildings are not a good reason to locate on the range. They are a sign of economic weakness that drives businesses away. For every business it attracts, two are locating elsewhere becaue they want to be in an area with a dynamic economy that attracts lots of other business.

  2. Can we stop dreaming long enough to deal with our realities? There are few areas in the country that put so much stock in dreams, and so little effort into fulfilling them. Let’s get real about what it takes to draw businesses to our (or any) area, and let’s work on that.

    Clue: It ain’t buildings – new businesses usually want to build their own rather than have to retrofit something that is sitting empty.

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