A year of renewal

Renewal of two major local industry icons - a papermaking mill and the former railroad headquarters - highlighted an update on economic development in the Brainerd lakes area.

"It felt like a year of renewal and rebuilding," said Sheila Haverkamp, Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corporation (BLAEDC) executive director. The BLAEDC annual meeting Friday showcased efforts in Brainerd by Mike Higgins at the former Wausau Paper Mill and Aimee Jobe and David Hutton at Northern Pacific Center. The annual event was titled "2014: a year of rebuilding, redeveloping, repurposing and revitalizing."

Looking out at the full room at Arrowwood Lodge at Brainerd Lakes in Baxter, Haverkamp said she sees everyone working together as a team blending individual talents within strong communities.

Haverkamp spoke of the redevelopment of the former Cuyuna Range mining area, abandoned by the mining companies, into a silent sports attraction. She noted the changes at the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce and BLAEDC as the organizations settle into new office space. Haverkamp outlined the year's accomplishments with its retired and relocated business executives now counseling three businesses through the Rent-a-Board initiative. Noting the 5,000 home-based businesses in Crow Wing County generating $200 million of annual revenue, Haverkamp said those small businesses deserve enhanced attention.

Between 1987 and 2014, BLAEDC listed accomplishments of 405 projects, $678 million in capital investments and 4,768 jobs. In 2014 alone, BLAEDC reported working on 19 projects and $5.8 million in capital investments, with a projection to create 72 jobs and retain 467 others.

Eight buildings make up the Northern Pacific Center, which covers 47 acres in east Brainerd. Dick Crandall and Hutton purchased the site in 1993. Their efforts put new roofs on the buildings and involved an extensive site cleanup.

"It's just really amazing," Jobe said. She said the NP Center offers business space with character. "We have the bones in the buildings. ... We want to drive business to our site."

Brainerd Industrial Center

Higgins drove 13 hours from Michigan to see the paper mill. He knew what he wanted to do after a half-hour walk-through of the plant.

"I said this can't be torn down," Higgins recalled.

Higgins grew up in a town of about 400 and became a third-generation small business owner. His family valued a strong work ethic. At age 10, Higgins was working at his grandfather's tire store. The Army veteran said he learned early to work for what he wanted, to earn it. He started his own small excavating company 22 years ago and grew it into a scrap recycling company, which is how he found himself on that long drive to central Minnesota. After working for others who were repurposing industrial buildings, Higgins liked the challenge of bringing new life to them and wanted to do that with his own project. When he previously worked on a 120-year-old paper mill, he said he fell in love with the building and the industry.

In 2014, he watched as the Brainerd paper mill went from being sold to another paper company to being slated to be torn down. After calling Wausau Paper daily with an interest to buy the building, Higgins said he wasn't taken seriously until he called Starboard Ventures. Five hours later, Wausau Paper returned his call. They gave him 45 days to decide and 10 days to put down a deposit. That's what he did. Now he owns the 640,000-square-foot building. He said Wausau Paper pulled the computer hard drives and left everything in place, from office computers to spare parts and full machine shops. The No. 5 paper machine was taken out. Higgins is hoping to have buyers for the No. 7 paper machine. He said there are interested people from Pakistan who are trying to get visas to come to see the machine.

"I truly believe I'm supposed to be here," Higgins said, noting how quickly and easily everything came together. "(Haverkamp) has been so awesome. Her energy and her (positive) vibe for this community is something else."

Higgins said there were people who were going to tear the paper mill down but that process didn't come easily.

"The city of Brainerd is tough and if they weren't so tough, I wouldn't be here," Higgins said."If I wasn't meant to save that building and to try to do something with it - it wouldn't have happened so easily."

He said his father told him to be successful, surround yourself with good people.

"I feel like with BLAEDC, I'm surrounded by good people," Higgins said.

Keynote speaker

Al Hodnik, ALLETE president and CEO, gave the keynote speech.

Hodnik said Jobe and Higgins represented the entrepreneurial spirit he saw in BLAEDC's new video showing what the greater lakes area has to offer. Their projects also pointed to risks and opportunities showing things can bloom and grow again. In a world where things now change rapidly, even overnight, it's important to be ready for change. Hodnik pointed to Minnesota Power/ALLETE's work to be diverse with renewable energies, coal and natural gas, to be responsive to climate change, bring in hydro and wind power and to be mindful of cyber attacks on the energy grid.

Hodnik, who serves on the PolyMet Mining Corp. Board and was formerly mayor of Aurora, said he rejects arguments that are all environment or all jobs.

"I think it can be done in harmony," he said. Hodnik held up a cellphone and said people have forgotten where components, including minerals, come from for products they use daily. He said 1,000 tons of copper went into one wind farm and solar is more copper-intense than wind. He asked where will those minerals come from to serve renewable energy?

Hodnik said Magnetation, an iron ore concentrate and pellet producer, takes iron out of old mineral stockpiles. Hodnik said at some point the land is then restored. He pointed to the ships at the Duluth port, saying 88 percent carry minerals in coal and taconite serving the working end of the harbor and tourism.

Hodnik urged diversification, advised regular pulse tests of the community on issues to see what they support, said principles are important but people should stay away from absolutes of yes or no. Older industry can be repurposed, but those projects come with risks and opportunities, Hodnik said. He noted the example of the abandoned Northwest Airlines base in Duluth. The airline abandoned the air base in 2005 as it filed for bankruptcy. Hodnik said the Duluth Economic Development Authority paid to heat the facility and kept an eye on it for years before the effort was rewarded by bringing in 400 jobs.

Hodnik said they've been marketing the area to a large industrial high-tech company but couldn't release any other information because of confidentiality.

Regarding minerals, BLAEDC's annual report noted timber and minerals are among the natural resources drawing the attention of companies like Cooperative Mineral Resources.

"These are opportunities for our area that BLAEDC is committed to understanding better," the organization noted.

To see the BLAEDC video of the greater lakes area assets and potential, go to www.growbrainerdlakes.org .

RENEE RICHARDSON, associate editor, may be reached at 855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Dispatchbizbuzz .