Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN articles from February 2009

Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN archives from February 2009

Eden Prairie-based ADC Telecommunications reduces estimates, plans more layoffs.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Broadband equipment maker ADC Telecommunications announced Monday that it would cut more jobs and reduced its financial guidance for the first fiscal quarter of the year. The Eden Prairie company said that it...

Poll: Most Minnesota manufacturers remain confident.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Results of the first statewide poll on the manufacturing industry, announced Monday, indicate that even though a majority of manufacturers expect the recession to last through the year, most remain confident about...

Minnesota wind power development stalled.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger There's good news and bad news from Minnesota's wind-energy developers. First, the good news: More than 453 megawatts of wind energy was plugged into the state's power grid in 2008 for a total of 1,752 megawatts of...

Could budget cuts strain Minnesota judicial system to breaking point?
February 3, 2009... Byline: Mark A. Cohen While a proposed 5 percent cut to the courts' budget was not as bad as some thought it would be, that's cold comfort to a judiciary presiding over a system that is already overburdened and cracking at the seams. ...

Minnesotans advance to nationals in Microsoft web design contest.
February 3, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Gregory Wurm, a programmer and analyst at Web development firm Sierra Bravo, has always wanted to attend a technology conference, but his job title generally doesn't afford him that opportunity. Now, thanks to...

As New Hope-based Olson General Contractors prepares to close, competitor absorbs clients.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson It's not an unusual concern: With retirement approaching, Bob Olson wants to make sure he isn't leaving longtime clients in a state of limbo. It's Olson's solution to the problem that makes him unusual. When he...

Construction: Building activity in Twin Cities metro roughly unchanged from year ago.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson January brought a small measure of encouraging news to local homebuilders, as residential building numbers showed signs of hitting bottom. Building activity, as measured by planned units, was essentially...

Two Minnesotans win 'Young Architects' honor.
February 4, 2009... Byline: Scott Carlson Two Minneapolis architects have been honored by their national association for outstanding work and contributions to the profession. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced Tuesday that among the...

Space: Layoffs could leave void in Minnesota's commercial real estate.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Burl Gilyard It's a depressingly familiar refrain: Target says it will slash 600 employees and leave 400 openings unfilled. Ameriprise Financial Inc. announces 300 layoffs. Piper Jaffray reveals that it employs 160 fewer people...

Dunsmore joins Minneapolis office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report The Minneapolis office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker announced that real estate veteran Tom Dunsmore has joined the firm as senior associate in its Industrial Sales & Leasing division. ...

Dunkin' Donuts taps first metro franchisee in Twin Cities area.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands Inc. has signed a multi-unit store development agreement with Peter Turner and partners, who will develop more than 20 Dunkin' Donuts locations in the Twin Cities...

Bloomington-based commercial real estate firm NorthMarq announces December deals.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report Bloomington-based commercial real estate firm NorthMarq announced four deals completed at the end of 2008. Despite the economic slowdown, there are a number of companies looking for the right...

St. Louis Park-based Grubb & Ellis/Northco adds Commerford.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report The St. Louis Park-based Grubb & Ellis/Northco Real Estate Services announced that real estate veteran Tom Commerford has joined the firm as vice president of investment services. Commerford...

Minnesota Chapter 45 of IREM offers program on "Leadership in Times of Uncertainty".
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report The Minnesota Chapter 45 of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) is offering a luncheon program addressing the current economic uncertainty. Matt Norman, vice president of sales and a...

City of Minneapolis hosts expo for West Broadway Avenue.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report The city of Minneapolis, the West Broadway Coalition and the Northside Arts Collective are holding a Community Development Expo on Saturday to tout redevelopment and revitalization ideas for West...

Minneapolis-based Upland Real Estate Group sells Elk River Dollar Tree location.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report Minneapolis-based Upland Real Estate Group., Inc., announced that it recently sold a Dollar Tree property in Elk River. The store sold for $1.47 million, representing a 6.93 percent cap rate, to a...

Minnetonka-based NAI Welsh promotes four brokers.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Report Minnetonka-based NAI Welsh has promoted four of its brokers. These promotions are a direct reflection of the dedication and hard work put forth throughout the year, said Bill Wardwell, executive...

Minnesota Governor Pawlenty's budget 'fix' could cost almost $2 billion in federal help.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger Criticism continues to mount over Gov. Tim Pawlenty's deficit-cutting plan to reduce the number of lower-income residents receiving help from the MinnesotaCare program. Paring adults from MinnesotaCare rolls is part...

DFL members blast Minnesota governor's borrowing plan.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Charley Shaw Members of the House Capital Investment Committee on Tuesday piled on criticism of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to borrow money that is backed by revenue the state receives from its 1998 settlement with tobacco...

Minnesota AG files lawsuits to fight foreclosure fees.
February 5, 2009... Byline: Burl Gilyard Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has a simple message for struggling homeowners: never pay a foreclosure consultant up front. Unfortunately, many struggling homeowners don't attend news conferences in the...

Jeff Balagna named marketing chief of Minnesota-based Carlson Marketing Worldwide.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Carlson CEO Hubert Joly on Wednesday named Jeff Balagna president and chief executive officer of Carlson Marketing Worldwide, the global marketing services agency of Carlson. Balagna had served as interim...

National Credit Union Administration beefs up capital levels.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The National Credit Union Administration announced Wednesday that it would inject $1 billion in capital in the U.S. Central Credit Union, the corporate credit union for credit unions. U.S. Central...

Tim O'Connor to head Minneapolis Downtown Council.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minneapolis Downtown Council introduced Tim O'Connor as its new board chairman during its annual meeting at the Hilton Minneapolis on Wednesday. O'Connor is an executive vice president with Hays...

UBS Financial Services adds veteran advisers to Minneapolis, Wayzata offices.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff UBS Financial Services Inc. announced the arrival of two advisory teams to their Minneapolis and Wayzata offices. Les Brunker and two members of his Smith Barney advisory team, Neil Knutson and Caleb...

Wells Fargo announces U.S. Treasury dividend.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Wells Fargo & Company announced this week that it will pay a quarterly dividend of $371.5 million to the U.S. Treasury for the preferred stock holdings it obtained as part of the Capital Purchase Program....

Wings Financial Credit Union plans Edina opening.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Wings Financial Federal Credit Union has announce that it will open a new branch in Edina in March. The branch, the union's 19th, will be at 7300 France Ave. S. and will serve many Wings members and their...

Texas bankers endorse Minneapolis-based Wolter Kluwer's products.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Texas Bankers Association recently endorsed a line of compliance and risk management products produced by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, which is based in Minneapolis. The Texas group approved...

4Q report card: Twin Cities banks bruised, but eager to lend.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Mark Anderson The economy is in the tank, but the five large publicly traded banks with major Twin Cities operations all have hopeful stories to tell about their core banking activities. During the year-end reports that...

In financial crisis, Minnesota-based U.S. Bank's disciplined approach looks attractive.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Mark Anderson It's not that the folks at U.S. Bank are happy about the recession. But executives with the Minneapolis-based financial powerhouse do see tantalizing opportunities in the economic maelstrom that's consumed much...

DLR Group, Farmington district trade charges over high school.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson DLR Group says it's standing by its design work on a $100 million high school project that has been the subject of suits and countersuits between the design firm and the Farmington Independent School District 192. ...

Delays, lawsuits, rising costs plague Farmington high school project.
February 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson There hasn't yet been a single class held at Farmington's new high school, but that building has already been the subject of more spitballs and food fights than most schools witness in their entire existence. ...

Minneapolis Met Council chair hopes stimulus can help mitigate operating deficit.
February 7, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson The economic stimulus bill currently being negotiated in the U.S. Senate is supposed to be all about infrastructure projects -- and the jobs those projects will support. Still, Metropolitan Council chair Peter...

Committee chairman opposes cuts to Minnesota health care programs.
February 7, 2009... Byline: Charley Shaw House Health Care and Human Services Finance Division Chairman Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, expects spending cuts in health care programs will be part of the final budget as lawmakers look to solve a $4.8 billion deficit...

Minnesota lawmakers: Expansion of 'design-build' could grease skids for stimulus projects.
February 7, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson Hoping to take full advantage of federal stimulus money, some state lawmakers want to expand the use of a nontraditional contracting tool that's designed to put projects on the fast track. Sen. Ann Lynch,...

Some Minnesota ad firms still expanding.
February 7, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger At a time when profit-squeezed advertising executives quip that flat is the new up, Risdall Marketing Group and Fallon Minneapolis have managed to gain business. New Brighton-based Risdall Marketing Group (RMG)...

Watchdog: Bush overpaid banks in bailout by billions.
February 7, 2009... Byline: JIM KUHNHENN The Bush administration overpaid tens of billions of dollars for stocks and other assets in its massive bailout last year of Wall Street banks and financial institutions, a new study by a government watchdog says. ...

Minneapolis-based consultant helps develop 'carbon calculator' Facebook application.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Green is the new cool. Environmental responsibility is so cool, in fact, that users of Facebook, the communications tool of choice for the under-40, tech-savvy crowd, can use one of several carbon calculators...

Twin Cities bankruptcy attorneys: Business is booming.
February 10, 2009... Byline: Michelle Lore When John and Jane Doe -- two professional, white collar workers with several young children -- lost their jobs, they took temporary positions to try to make ends meet. But the pay wasn't enough and they fell behind...

Amendment to Bankruptcy Act in the works?
February 10, 2009... Byline: Michelle Lore A bill pending before Congress could provide relief to hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure. The Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009 -- H.R. 200/S.F. 61 -- would amend...

Recession, unemployment challenge new St. Paul Port Authority president.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Scott Carlson With the recession gaining steam and Minnesota's unemployment rate rising, Louie Jambois is taking the helm as president and chief executive officer of the St. Paul Port Authority at a particularly challenging time....

DLR Group responds to Farmington School District.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff DLR Group announced late Monday that it has filed a response to the Farmington School District's countersuit regarding alleged design problems on the new $100 million Farmington High School. The...

John Kraemer & Sons gets Builders Assn. of the Twin Cities honor.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Builders Association of the Twin Cities has named Edina-based John Kraemer & Sons its 2009 Builder of the Year. The homebuilders' group presented the award at its Feb. 5 membership meeting. Other...

Brooklyn Park-based Egan Company appoints new board member.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Egan Company, a Brooklyn Park-based specialty contractor, has appointed Jack Galvin to its board of directors. Galvin joined Egan Company in 2003 as vice president of Electrical Pre-Construction...

Melissa Buscho named president of HomesServices Insurance of Edina.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Finance & Commerce Staff Melissa Buscho has been named president of HomeServices Insurance Inc., a business unit of Edina Realty parent company HomeServices of America. In her new position, Buscho expands oversight of the company's...

Minneapolis-based Walsh Bishop eyeing continued growth in casino, resort projects.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson The slumping economy has put a crimp in the plans of construction firms everywhere, but some sectors are less vulnerable to the recession than others. The construction of casino resorts, for instance, has slowed...

Minnesota design firms and contractors learn to respect tribal culture.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson Since founding its Hospitality and Entertainment Group in 1990, Minneapolis-based Walsh Bishop has completed 70 casino projects for dozens of Native American clients. It's the only design firm to be an associate...

Minnesota bill would require Commerce to measure transmission grid adequacy.
February 11, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger State Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Commerce to issue an annual electric grid adequacy report, giving legislators a chance to assess the state's transmission needs...

Commercial real estate auctions in Brooklyn Park more common as market slows.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Burl Gilyard Pity the lonely Northland Corporate Center in suburban Brooklyn Park. The 200,000-square-foot building, brand new in 1985, has sat vacant for several years. We always pitch it when people come in looking for sites,...

Minnesota Senate bill targets gifts to physicians.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Minnesota may soon impose strict rules on the sort of compensation physicians can receive from medical device firms and drug companies. Sen. John Marty is reintroducing a bill he authored last year that would...

Minnesota-Dakotas Chapter of CCIM chapter names new officers.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The Minnesota-Dakotas Chapter of CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Members) of the CCIM Institute has announced its officers and members of its board of directors for 2009. Julie Lux of the local...

Burnsville-based US Federal Credit Union buys Bloomington property.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce staff The Burnsville-based US Federal Credit Union (USFCU) has purchased a 30,000-square-foot Alpha Office Tech Center in Bloomington at 2700 E. 82nd St. USFCU will continue to use the building as a branch and...

Local apartment vacancy climbs in Minneapolis, development cools.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based GVA Marquette Advisors said that the local apartment market hit a sour note at the end of the fourth quarter. The latest GVA numbers show the overall vacancy rate for apartments climbed...

New apartment project opens in St. Paul.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Apple Valley-based Stonebridge Companies is set to open The Pointe at River Crossing, a new 133-unit apartment building in St. Paul. The project marks the final phase of the so-called Gateway Village...

ICSC meeting in Minneapolis eyes growing retail concepts.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is hosting a Minneapolis Next Generation program featuring corporate representatives from three growing retail concepts. The meeting will be held...

Richfield apartments trade for $1.8 million.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The local office of Marcus & Millichap Investment Real Estate Services announced the recent sale of a 33-unit Richfield apartment complex for $1.8 million, or $54,515 per unit. The apartments, at...

Almost 60 percent of January home sales in Twin Cities metro were 'lender-mediated'.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff The local housing market is in terrible shape. On the other hand, the local housing market is not doing too badly. There's a case to be made for either interpretation of the latest local housing...

St. Paul-based Wellington to buy, lease back Green Institute headquarters.
February 12, 2009... Byline: Burl Gilyard St. Paul-based Wellington Management Inc. has a deal to buy the Minneapolis home of the nonprofit Green Institute, an environmental consultant/salvage center that has struggled to stay current on loans from the city...

Minnesota hospitals in bad shape, and things could get worse.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Scott Carlson The prognosis for Minnesota hospitals: Sustained pain. Lawrence Massa, president of the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA), told state legislators this week that health care providers are already facing big...

Minnetonka-based Medica offers information for unemployed, uninsured.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minnetonka-based Medica has rolled out a program to help laid-off Minnesotans understand their health insurance options. With unemployment reaching 6.9 percent in December and climbing, the number of...

Minneapolis-based Ameriprise Financial gifts benefit housing, foodshelves, Gulf.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based Ameriprise Financial, Inc. announced its final charitable gifts of 2008, which provided 48 grants totaling $648,000. The current economic environment has vastly increased the demands...

Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer launches mortgage security tool.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minneapolis-based Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has launched new security tools that can help mortgage brokers and lenders comply with new identity-theft prevention guideline included in the Fair and...

Stellent founder buys Eden Prairie-based SwiftKnowledge.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Robert Olson, the founder and former chief executive of Stellent, Inc., announced this week that he's launched a new firm and acquired the assets and intellectual property of SwiftKnowledge, Inc., a...

UnitedHealth Group wins LEED Gold certification on Minnetonka headquarters campus.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff UnitedHealth Group new 10-story building on its Minnetonka headquarters campus has earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold-level certification, one of only eight commercial...

Minnetonka-based AmeriPride taps Bill Evans as president, CEO.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Minnetonka-based AmeriPride Services, one of the U.S.'s largest uniform rental and linen supply companies, has named its first non-family member in the company's 120-year history as president and chief...

St. Paul's Eastside Financial Center offers personal coaching, exceeds first-year goals.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Mark Anderson Money should be all about making life a little easier, and a little more promising, which is why Julie Baker first dropped in on St. Paul's Eastside Financial Center last June. Baker, a recently divorced mother of...

Opus, Greco team up on Uptown Minneapolis apartment project.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Burl Gilyard Minnetonka mega-developer Opus Northwest has signed onto the development team for a large Uptown Minneapolis apartment project - one of four such projects in the pipeline that are all within a few blocks of each other....

Wayzata-based TCF Bank charter moving to Sioux Falls.
February 13, 2009... Byline: Mark Anderson TCF Financial Corp. announced Thursday that it will move the charter for its TCF National Bank to Sioux Falls. The bank's holding company will remain headquartered in Wayzata, and the company doesn't plan to...

Two Hallmark stores in Edina to close by April.
February 14, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger Just in time for Valentine's Day, two Gold Crown Hallmark stores in Edina have announced that they're being shuttered. Apparently, the closures reflect the get-well-soon state of the U.S. economy. The Hallmark...

Minnesota banking regulators offer reassurance, but also warnings.
February 14, 2009... Byline: Mark Anderson Minnesota bankers had a chance to sit down with three of their top regional regulators this week in St. Paul, and considering this winter of financial unease, they heard some pretty good news. First of all, the...

Minneapolis Met Council: Central Corridor light rail on track.
February 14, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson The good news: Falling prices for materials such as asphalt and rebar have helped to shave millions of dollars off the estimated cost of the Central Corridor light rail project. The bad news: A bigger contingency...

Minn. governor's commission: Expand sales tax base, repeal corporate income tax, raise cigarette tax.
February 14, 2009... Byline: Charley Shaw A commission appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to reform Minnesota's business tax system released its recommendations Friday with on oft-cited philosophy in mind: Businesses don't pay taxes. You and I do, said Michael...

Study: Major racial disparities in mortgage lending in Twin Cities.(Report)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Betsy Sundquist The Twin Cities has some of the nation's worst racial disparities in mortgage lending, according to a new report issued by the University of Minnesota Institute on Race and Poverty. The report, Communities in...

Commentary: Poor data management can lead to lost revenue, lost customers, or a lost reputation.(Company overview)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Larry Mastbaum In today's economic downturn, companies are evaluating every line item to identify potential savings that will help them stay afloat. However, if they think that saving money on data management is a possible life...

Minnetonka-based Cargill rolling out Truvia sweetener with $20 million ad campaign.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Bob Geiger After 144 years of purchasing, processing and distributing agricultural commodities worldwide, Minnetonka-based Cargill is hoping for sweet success with its first consumer product. Truvia, an all-natural sweetener,...

Minnesota lawyers blog their way to business.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Michelle Lore You're a busy lawyer. You've got a deposition this morning, a client meeting this afternoon and a legal brief due tomorrow. Is it really worth the time to sit in front of a computer, adding daily posts to a law blog...

New applications leverage the popularity of social networks.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Arundhati Parmar Facebook, Twitter, Digg, FriendFeed, LinkedIn. Social networking on the Internet is exploding in popularity, as people of all ages flock online to create networks of peers, then mine those networks to find out...

Data management for law offices doesn't have to be a headache.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Dan Emerson Just over two years after new e-discovery rules became part of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it's clear that the proliferation of electronic information has helped make litigation more complex and costly. ...

The Wal-Mart model: Using social media to engage customers.
February 17, 2009... Byline: Heather Caliendo Blogging. Twitter. Facebook. Any business can benefit from those avenues of social media, according to John Andrews, senior manager of emerging media for Wal-Mart. With social media is it about a true authentic...

Stay in TOUCH.
February 17, 2009... Byline: ED MAYUGA That old saying, When the going gets tough, the tough get going might have made sense in the past but in this economy nothing seems to be as it is. My question: Where are the tough going in this market? Ideally, you...

Inver Grove Heights, Glencoe both issued permits in January for independent/assisted living.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Brian Johnson Senior housing continues to be a minor bright spot in the local residential construction market. During January, Inver Grove Heights led the metro area in new homebuilding activity with one residential permit for...

Braun Intertec employee earns doctorate from University of Minnesota.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Rebecca Forman, a project scientist with Braun Intertec's Environmental Consulting Group, has completed her Ph.D. in water resources science at the University of Minnesota. At Braun Intertec, Forman...

Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction achieves safety milestone.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Kraus-Anderson Construction announced this week that the company lost no hours to job-site injuries last year. The company racked up 1.2 million man hours of work in 2008 while producing $754 million in...

Hastings-based Stotko Speedling Construction gets pair of awards.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff Stotko Speedling Construction received two Pyramid Awards from the recent Minnesota Associated Builders and Contractors' Excellence in Construction Awards program. The Hastings-based firm took home...

University Avenue Business Assn. meeting to focus on light rail impacts.
February 18, 2009... Byline: Finance and Commerce Staff A meeting of the University Avenue Business Association will focus on the small-business impacts of light rail construction. At the meeting, the UABA will present its construction mitigation proposal...