A new on-line tool for economic development in the Northland was unveiled Monday.
The Web site, http://www.NorthlandConnection.com , is designed to help business owners, site location consultants, real estate brokers and economic developers find critical information they need as they seek sites for new or expanding businesses.
The site has information about eight counties including St. Louis, Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching and Lake in Minnesota and Douglas County in Wisconsin.
The information includes links to the Web sites of individual communities, properties and existing economic development organizations in the Northland.
More than 5,000 pages of information are on the site, including an interactive real estate database, which lists vacant business properties available for sale, lease or rent. Because the information is presented in the same format for each property, it makes it easy to compare them, as developers look for the right fit.
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The site also includes demographic and labor force characteristics, leading employers in all sectors, a list of new and expanding companies, military bases, higher education resources, payroll costs by industry, workers' compensation costs, information on transportation, taxation and utilities, etc.
The Northland Connection site was developed by the Arrowhead Business Connection (ABC), a program of the Northspan Group. Development of the site cost more than $135,000, of which more than half came from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Nancy Norr of Minnesota Power, an ABC board member, said that the site will help sell the business assets of this area. "By looking at northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin as one regional marketplace, we create a much stronger image," she said.
