I've been told by one of the LNA PAC members that Allina wants firm written commitments from the various government entities before its board meets at the end of February to make a final decision on where to locate its corporate headquarters. Their other choice is in St. Paul and they apparently intend to decide one short month from now.
This is forcing everyone's hand, but - candidly - having a large corporate anchor in that enormous building sounds like a plan to me. I can see Abbott's complex from my unit at Ebenezer Tower. They have a large footprint already and adding more functions (including a hotel in the Sears building, I guess) would provide Allina some economies of scale and essentially parallel Wells Fargo's expansion activity. A number of Wells Fargo folks were at a West Phillips neighborhood bash at the Zurah Shrine Center the other night and there are other obvious signs of "good neighbor" corporate activity, not the least of which are complete blocks of new housing. I also understand that nearby commercial nodes along Lake St. (Uptown, Lyn-Lake, Nicollet-Lake, Eat Street, and the mercados and souks) are benefiting from the consumer choices of these large employee populations and I imagine that this forecasts a similar positive mercantile future for Franklin Ave. Fred Markus, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 1/19/2004 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
