Minneapolis, MN
Business People: Former Dayton spokeswoman Laura Cederberg to head Weber Shandwick’s Minneapolis office
OF NOTE
National PR firm Weber Shandwick announced the promotion of Laura Cederberg to Minneapolis market leader. Cederberg most recently was a senior vice president on the firm’s corporate and public affairs team and before that served as a spokesperson for former Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and former Lt. Gov. Tina Smith.
ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS
Minneapolis-based ad agencies Preston Spire and Carmichael Lynch were named to Ad Age’s Best Places to Work 2024 list.
ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING
HGA, Minneapolis, announced the appointment of Mia Blanchett as chief executive officer, succeeding Tim Carl; Blanchett has been with the firm since 1989.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, St. Paul, announced the opening of a branch at 1460 S. 12th Ave West, Virginia, Minn. … Bell Bank, Fargo, N.D., announced that Jenny Senecal has been named executive vice president/chief credit officer, based at Bell Plaza in Bloomington and in Fargo. Senecal has been a member of the executive leadership team since 2022. … First Interstate Bank announced that Tim Schmidt was promoted to director of Treasury Solutions, based in the Twin Cities; Schmidt is a board member on the St. Paul District Council and member of St. Paul’s annual Capital Improvement Budget Task Force. … BGM, a Bloomington CPA, advisory and financial firm, announced that Nathan Panning has been promoted to lead the Tax Group. Panning has been with the firm since 2007 and was promoted to principal in 2021.
GOVERNMENT
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has named Jeanna Fortney as its next CareerForce director in the agency’s Workforce Development Division. Fortney previously was executive director of the Minnesota Association of Workforce Development Board. … The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced the hiring of Brian Walsh to lead a new Worker Protection Unit. Walsh previously served as director of labor standards enforcement for the city of Minneapolis.
HONORS
The city of Rosemount announced Senior Planner Anthony Nemcek as its 2023 Employee of the Year. Nemcek has worked for the city since 2016; he was promoted to senior planner in 2021.
LAW
Lockridge Grindal Nauen, Minneapolis, announced the promotion of Joseph Bourne to partner; Bourne’s fields are antitrust, consumer protection and business litigation. … Moss & Barnett, Minneapolis, announced that Brian T. Grogan was re-elected and Brian J. Schoenborn was elected to three-year terms on the firm’s board of directors. … Chestnut Cambronne, Minneapolis, announced that Elizabeth (Lisa) Henry has been elected shareholder and also that she has been selected by Minnesota Lawyer as an inaugural 2023 Top Women in Law award recipient. Henry sits on the firm’s board of directors and practices primarily in trust and estate litigation and elder law.
MANUFACTURING
BioMADE, a Manufacturing Innovation Institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, announced the appointment of Jack Starr as its inaugural chief manufacturing officer. Starr previously held similar roles at Cargill and NatureWorks. BioMADE is based jointly in St. Paul and Emeryville, Calif. … Malco Tools, an Annandale, Minn.-based maker of professional hand tools for workers in the HVAC, construction and automotive trades, announced that Marc Kermisch, chief digital and information officer at CNH Industrial, has joined its board of directors. … Industrial Louvers and Verta, Delano, Minn.-based makers of architectural metal and metal coatings for industry, announced the retirement of CEO and President Jo Reinhardt, to be succeeded by Brett Reinhardt, now president of both companies. Reinhardt family leadership at Industrial Louvers dates back to 1971.
NONPROFITS
St. Croix Valley Habitat for Humanity, Hudson, Wis., announced new board members Lisa Lyon, Pillar Bank, and Dave Grambow, Hudson Schools; Gina Moe-Knutson, WESTconsin Realty, was named board president and Clark Schroeder, city of Lake Elmo, vice president.
RETAIL
Scooter’s Coffee, an Omaha, Neb.-based drive-thru coffee chain, announced the opening of a location in Rockford, Minn., the franchisees are Josh and Kaiyah Herscheid, and the planned summer opening of an end-cap location at the National Sports Village in Blaine, Susan and Brent Nygaard franchisees.
SPONSORSHIPS
USA Fencing announced a multiyear partnership for Bell Bank become its official bank. Fargo, N.D.-based Bell Bank is Minnesota’s seventh largest bank by deposit market share.
EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com.
A shooting in north Minneapolis injured two men on Friday night.
Minneapolis police said officers responded around 9:30 p.m. Friday after multiple reports of gunfire near Lowry Avenue North and North Logan Avenue.Police said they found two men with gunshot wounds outside a home.
Officers said both men were outside when the gunfire started and a nearby hospital treated both men for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police are still investigating. Officers said no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
A 19-year-old man is injured after a shooting in north Minneapolis on Friday, according to police.
Officers responded to the incident on the 2600 block of North Humboldt Avenue at 5:03 p.m. Officials said they found the man inside a home with apparent gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
The officers provided medical aid before the man was taken to the hospital, police said.
According to investigators, the man was outside the home when shots were fired and ran inside after he was injured.
Police said Friday night that no arrests had been made and that they were working to learn what led to the shooting.
The Blueprint
A team led by Lupe Development Partners and Wall Cos. wants to bring more than 100 units of affordable senior housing to a triangular parking area near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, the latest version of a yearslong effort to redevelop the site.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole reviewed plans for the five-story, 104-unit building at 600 Main St. SE. The project would require a comprehensive plan amendment, rezoning and other approvals.
Jess Olstad, a city spokesperson, said in an email that the committee took no formal action.
“The next step for the project team will be to conduct public engagement around their potential comprehensive plan amendment, and to prepare their land use applications for submittal,” Olstad said.
Steve Minn, vice president and chief financial manager of Lupe Development, said Friday that the project received “very positive feedback” from the committee.
“We’re just going to proceed with the rest of our application, which will be in the next week or so,” said Minn, who added that the proposed location is a “perfect site for housing” and that “senior housing is a need.”
A comprehensive plan amendment would require Metropolitan Council review. If the approval process goes well and financing comes together next year, the project could break ground in 2028, Minn said.
A 58-space “principal parking facility” currently occupies the 37,401-square-foot development site, which is framed by Sixth Avenue Southeast, Main Street Southeast, and a railroad property, according to a city staff report.
The project would primarily offer one-bedroom units, though the mix would also include some two-bedroom dwellings and efficiencies. Thirty-nine stalls of underground parking are also planned.
Located near the Stone Arch Bridge trailhead in the Mississippi River Critical Area Overlay District, the project would be “compatible with the surrounding neighborhood architecture,” according to a narrative submitted on behalf of the developer.
The plan includes site improvements such as structured parking and pedestrian spaces, and a new public trail, which would connect to existing Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board trails in Father Hennepin Bluffs Park.
According to the developer’s narrative, the project “represents a reinvestment in a privately owned, undeveloped parcel that is not used for park purposes and is not planned for acquisition.”
The project would align the property’s “land use, built form, and Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area Overlay District designations with the surrounding urban context and applicable regulatory framework,” the narrative states.
Wall Cos. and Lupe Development Partners, doing business as Bluff Street Development, have long wanted to redevelop 600 Main St. SE. In 2023, the developers pitched a plan for 80 affordable housing units on the site.
The developers’ history with the site goes back as far as 2009, when they proposed separate plans for a 98-unit and a 79-unit apartment project, as previously reported. In 2010, Bluff Street sued the city after the City Council rejected the plans. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011.
When development efforts first started, the Mississippi River Critical Corridor Area rules and regulations had not been defined, and “there was a lot of angst in the community” about what those regulations would be, Minn said.
Those regulations are now “well defined,” clearing the way for development, he said.
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