strong local economy : Buzz

Businessweek released a list of "America's 50 Best Cities," and St. Paul and Minneapolis came in at no. 10 and no. 12 respectively.
 
"St. Paul may be the smaller of the Twin Cities, but the state capital is also cleaner and safer, if slightly behind Minneapolis in median household income," the business publication notes.
 
Minneapolis, meanwhile, is recognized for its parks and lakes, as well as the University of Minnesota's numerous national championships in ice hockey. The article states, "Downtown Minneapolis beats the cold with a unique network of connected buildings, with the City Center mall at its core."
 
As for the best cities in the rest of the country, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. took the top three spots.
 
To get the results, Businessweek teamed up with Bloomberg Rankings to evaluate data on 100 of the country's largest cities, and looked at leisure attributes, educational attributes, economic factors, crime, and air quality.

Technology career site Dice.com highlighted a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that put Minnesota in the top five states for fastest job growth in computer systems design and related services.
 
Dice's managing director, Alice Hill, noted that the Minnesota High Tech Association has the goal to make the state one of the country's top five in all types of technology by 2020. Also, IT hiring in Minnesota goes beyond tech firms and includes retailers, healthcare companies, consulting firms, insurance companies, and manufacturers.
 
Maryland showed the strongest growth in the nation for the computer systems design sector, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, and New York. An interesting aspect of the report, Dice pointed out, was that technology powerhouses California and Washington didn't make the list of the top 10 fastest-growing states for IT jobs.

The Salty Tart in Minneapolis recently made a list of the top 10 bakeries around the globe from Departures magazine.

“Though it is a risky move to arrive in a new city and set up shop immediately, it paid off for pastry chef Michelle Gayer,” the story reads.

After working on Los Angeles and Chicago, the baker opened the Salty Tart in 2008 in the Midtown Global Market.

With everything from coconut macaroons to pastry cream-filled brioche to various kinds of seasonal tarts, “The bakery was an instant hit,” the article states.

Inc. magazine released its annual list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States and seven Minnesota companies made the list.
 
Highest-ranking at no. 71 was Plymouth-based GarbageMan, a firm that franchises environmentally conscious garbage and recycling services. Also on the list is Code 42 Software (see our previous coverage here), a Minneapolis-based developer of data protection and backup software.
 
Other Minnesota companies that made the list were MetroSpec Technology, DefySupply.com, Erickson Builders & Co., Intuitive Technology Group, and aimClear.
 
Despite a tough economic environment, the magazine noted, the median three-year growth of this year's list was a remarkable 1,436 percent--the highest rate in the list's 31-year history. Topping the list was payment processor Unified Payments, which reported a three-year growth rate of nearly 25,000 percent. Other prominent brands on the list include Facebook, Yelp, and Chobani. 

Recently, The Atlantic magazine recounted in print how Medtronic came to be the major company it is now, after beginning in a garage in Northeast Minneapolis, Fridley Patch reports.

The Atlantic writer, Monica Smith, visited local landmarks while gathering information on the Fridley-headquartered international company.

“Her research was part of a Smithsonian Institution exhibit called Places of Invention that's now in development. It focuses on seven areas of the United States, including Minnesota's 'medical alley,'” the  Patch story reads.

The story republishes this excerpt from the magazine story, below.

One of my favorite stories is about how young Earl [Bakken, Medtronic founder] ... was inspired to become an electrical engineer after seeing Boris Karloff's 1931 "Frankenstein" at the Heights Theatre on Central Avenue near his childhood home in Minneapolis. So in the pouring rain David [Rhees, executive director of The Bakken Museum] drove me by Earl's house and then on to the now-renovated theatre to take photos. He told me about how fun it was to help Earl celebrate his 85th birthday with a special screening of the 1931 movie there. Our next stop was at Medtronic's world headquarters where Earl still maintains an office even though he is nominally retired and lives in Hawaii. I got a kick out of seeing two Frankenstein figures on his desk.

In a recent piece, Midwest Living features Minneapolis as an ideal destination town for a two-day getaway.
 
“No matter what your mood, Minneapolis offers something to suit: beautiful lakes nestled among hip art communities, tree-lined trails behind modern museums, vibrant nightlife blocks from high-class cultural attractions,” the story reads.
 
For starters, the extensive art collections housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts make the museum worth a trip. “The Department of Contemporary Art shows works by living artists, and the institute’s collection of paintings spans more than five centuries,” it states.  
 
Also, Nicollet Mall’s pedestrian-level shops, restaurants, and farmers market, and scenic Lake Calhoun are just some of the city’s many attractions, the article adds.  
 

 

 

PedalMn.com has a short video that shows off the state’s extensive bike trails.  

It goes through a number of bike paths both in urban areas and in greater Minnesota. In Minneapolis, bicyclists are followed as they careen past the scenic Chain of Lakes, the St. Anthony Main historic area, and Nicollet Mall.  

Bike-friendly infrastructure, such as bike racks on buses, helps flesh out some of the reasons why the state has gotten so many props lately in this area.

The video will “will remind you why you love to get out and pedal in Minnesota,” the website states.  

The number of farmers markets is growing across the country, which makes singling out just a few of them a challenging task. But the Mother Nature Network (MNN) was willing to take on the job, highlighting nine markets across the country, including the Minneapolis Farmers Market.
 
"Some of the produce and goods sold here are seldom seen in smaller markets (or in any other markets in the Upper Midwest, for that matter), a product of Minneapolis' diverse population," the article notes.
 
True food aficionados need to visit the market, MNN advises, along with other markets in Portland, Santa Fe, Madison, Hilo, HI, New Orleans, and Chicago.

The Anchor Fish & Chips restaurant in Minneapolis is featured in a Yahoo! Travel piece about the best seafood spots in the country.
 
“Crisp Alaskan cod and hand-cut fries steal the show at this traditional Irish chipper,” the piece reads. “Request a side of tangy curry sauce to layer on your fries and you're sure to tantalize your taste buds.”
 
The Anchor’s seafood isn’t the only thing drawing people to the small hole-in-the-wall pub, the piece points out. It also has a solid beer selection, well-executed Shepherd’s Pie, and a trendy ambience.  
 
For those on the go, the restaurant’s food truck is a good option, adds Yahoo!
 

In a recent piece from Fox News, Minneapolis is recognized as a top “revival city.”

Fox explored a handful of cities that might seem under the radar or “once balanced on the economic precipice only to sustain as a stronghold for independent artists, forward-thinking entrepreneurs and corporate backers"--and looked at "how they're being transformed into unique vacation destinations,” the story states.

Minneapolis leads the nation in bicycling; it has award-winning restaurants and music venues and striking hotels, and plenty of art, the story states.

It mentions a laundry list of area destinations, including a 44-mile network of bike paths, the hard-to-get-into Marvel Bar, Eat Street Social, the Art Deco-style W Minneapolis, ArtCrank bike-inspired art and more.

The Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis has been re-imagined as a “hotel for locavores,” according to a recent New York Times story.

Part of the hotel’s recent $25 million renovation used area manufacturers, artisans, and artists. Its new décor “pays tribute to the city’s heritage and industry,” it states.

While the hotel is internationally known, architect Mike Suomi of Stonehill & Taylor says in the story, “We also wanted to craft a narrative that is specific to the location.”

Design touches reference timber and woolen mills while an oversized map of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers is tied together with Post-Its, which the city is also known for.

Bon Appetit magazine recently pulled together a list of the top five soda fountains around the country.

“A band of bartender converts are stepping up to the seltzer tap, returning us to the era of phosphates and egg creams,” the story states. Eat Street Social in Minneapolis made the list.  

“Sodas go toe-to-toe with craft cocktails at this lively bar,” it reads, adding that the Raspberry Rickey is a must-order.

The Twin Cities are home to 18 companies in the Fortune 500, so it's little wonder that such a lengthy list of ad agencies have set up shop here, according to industry must-read magazine Advertising Age. As a bonus, Minneapolis is a "smart and artsy town," the article states.
 
Another unique aspect of our local ad agency scene is the breadth of new agencies and their ability to thrive, Ad Age notes. As an example, the article points to Olson, which has 330 employees in the Minneapolis office, and counts Target, Bauer Hockey, and Northwestern Mutual among its clients.
 
The article goes on to list other benefits to living and working here, including our fast-growing craft-beer scene, startup culture, and progressive diversity programs.

BrightScope, an investment research firm, released its second annual list of the Minneapolis-area-based companies that boast the highest-ranked 401k plans.
 
Twenty five companies were highlighted, including newcomers to the list like M.A. Mortenson Company, The Valspar Corporation, and American Medical Systems.
 
The top three companies were Fish & Richardson, Briggs and Morgan, and Leonard Street and Deinard.
 
"It is apparent that the companies on this list have created high quality and effective 401k plans for their employees, making each of them a standard in which all other companies in the Minneapolis area should strive to imitate," noted Dan Weeks, BrightScope founder, in a press release about the results.

Business magazine Forbes released its annual "Best Places for Business and Careers" list, and the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area came in at 22nd place among the nation's 200 largest metros.
 
Although that might seem like a low ranking, given the many "Top 10" lists that the Twin Cities makes, it's actually a boost over last year, when the area came in at 34th, and a huge jump over 2010, when the Twin Cities ranked 57th.
 
As the list notes, our metro area struggles with cost of business issues and job growth, but benefits from strong education and a lower cost of living than many other areas.