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WebXtras- The Road to Alpharetta Page 1 of 2 <br /> • Online exclusives for bizsites.com <br /> Beyond the Twin Cities <br /> Open Land in the Outer Ring; Third-Tier Suburbs Boom <br /> By Michelle Porter, Online Editor <br /> Ten years ago, most new industrial development outside Minnesota's Twin Cities <br /> went to first- and second-tier sites such as Minnetonka, Plymouth, Roseville, Eden <br /> Prairie, New Hope and Bloomington. <br /> Now that land is scarce and more costly in the St. Paul/Minneapolis CBD, <br /> communities in third-tier suburbs are becoming more attractive to businesses <br /> locating in Minnesota. Industries building space-hungry facilities are finding cheaper, <br /> more plentiful land and more affordable buildings in outer-ring suburbs such as <br /> Cottage Grove, Elk River, Rogers, Savage, Champlin and Chanhassen. <br /> Plenty of elbow room <br /> Interstates 494 and 694 run a circle around the entire Twin Cities area. North <br /> and south is bounded by Highway 35 East. The west is bisected by 1-94 and 694. <br /> • Within these boundaries is the CBD of St. Paul/Minneapolis, including first- and <br /> second-tier suburbs; outside lie the third-tier communities. <br /> Two distinct types of companies are building in the outer ring, says Bill Ritter, <br /> senior vice president of industrial brokerage with Welsh Companies, a real estate <br /> group. <br /> "One type tends to be very large warehousing or distribution companies that <br /> require space of 100,000 square feet or more," Ritter says. "It's the new breed of <br /> distribution center with 32-foot clear height, VSR sprinkler systems and fairly <br /> substantial bay depths." <br /> This property is fairly new; none was built up until two years ago, Ritter says. "In <br /> third-tier suburbs outside the ring, developers are able to build specifically what the <br /> end-user is looking for." <br /> Light industrial or high-tech manufacturers that have very large spatial <br /> requirements are also choosing to locate in the outer ring, Ritter says. C-Gate is one <br /> example. When the California-based hard disk drive manufacturer was faced with <br /> consolidating operations in Minnesota, the company chose Shakopee, a third-tier <br /> suburb near the company's Bloomington location. <br /> • "Land [in Shakopee] was available and priced accordingly, the highway <br /> infrastructure systems were in, taxes were low, and it was close enough to their <br /> other operations that they didn't have to concern themselves with loss of <br /> employees," Ritter says. <br /> http://www.bizsites.com/webxtras/twincities.html 4/5/01 <br />