One of the main focuses of St. Cloud Greater is to help businesses expand or develop within St. Cloud. To help this process, we have included a few tools on our website. These tools could be beneficial to you wherever you are on your entrepreneurial journey; whether you are just starting out or expanding.
Our first tool is the Site Selector. Location One Information System (LOIS) is a GIS-enhanced mapping tool that enables users to dynamically search for commercial, industrial, office, flex and retail spaces for sale or lease in the City of St. Cloud. You can also use this tool to create site-specific demographic analysis, and utilize interactive maps to identify an optimal business location in the City of St. Cloud. The tool is typically used by real estate brokers, but can be used by anyone looking for commercial or industrial buildings or land.
The next tool is the Development Activity map, which can be incredibly useful to those developing a business in our city. The activity map is updated monthly and shows how property in St. Cloud is being developed. The categories shown are industrial, institutional, medical, office, service, and commercial. The map also defines projects under construction or completed projects in the city with a building permit value equal to or greater than $250,000. This tool can help pinpoint areas in which your business may thrive. (For example, Downtown and Division Street continue to be hotbeds for redeveloping and new construction.)
Lastly, our Business Assistance Resource page is a wealth of resources. Take a look at the Business and Community Resource Guide that was created by The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The guide’s table of contents will help you ascertain which parts of the guide would answer specific questions you may have relating to your business and which state resources might be your best fit. It covers everything from how to get in the Made In Minnesota Directory to tax exemptions on capital equipment. The Business Assistance page has resources regarding business counseling, loans/grants, tax credits and worker training that are provided by many of our partners.
The St. Cloud Economic Development Department wants to provide you with personalized services to meet your business's growing needs. You can always call our office to discuss your unique business project. Contact Cathy Mehelich or Tammy Campion at 320-255-7218 and we will connect you with the appropriate resources to help you do things such as locate grants for customized training, find loans for land acquisition, building construction, machinery/equipment, search for tax credits for job creation and tax incentives for job creation and investments in targeted industry sectors.
