Envision Shakopee

Co-working spaces The city should encourage co-working or shared working spaces that can accommodate new or growing small businesses. These efforts can leverage the unique existing spaces in Shakopee as well as the adjacent industries and residential talent base. Shakopee’s historic Downtown has a strong foundation on which to develop these flexible spaces and the city has local, highly-skilled residents, many of whom commute out of the city for work. Although Shakopee may not compete with Downtown Minneapolis for young talent, it does have a significant residential base of high-income earners. The city should leverage its appeal to these residents and seek ways for them to both live and work in Shakopee. Today’s entrepreneurs and small companies increasingly seek to limit long-term financial commitments typical of traditional office space and want to be located in interesting, collaborative spaces. Shakopee’s aging industrial spaces are potential targets for redevelopment into accessible and affordable office product. Shakopee can compete on a price basis with its regional peers by providing space that is below regional market rates and offer flexible lease terms attractive to growing companies, while providing adjacency to its unique and historic downtown. In addition to providing new kinds of space in the city, co-working office space can be a first step towards growing and testing an office market, supporting local small business growth, improving long-term job growth trends, and demonstrating to the development community that there is interest in office in Shakopee. The City can take an active lead in developing and curating co-working spaces. The size and strategy of the City’s commitment to investing in co-working spaces varies with the size of the market and the resources available. The City can look to a number of precedents for implementing this, both within the state and nationally.

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For example, Rochester’s BioBusiness Center, which opened its 111,000 square feet facility in 2009 invested $700,000 of City economic development funds to help launch the Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator and the Advanced Product Incubator in partnership with the Mayo Clinic in 2013. Research Triangle Park Foundation in North Carolina transformed an underutilized suburban office building into a dynamic mix of co-working and private office space. The initial co-working component of 5,000 square feet has been an unexpected success and is now a regional destination for entrepreneurs.

ENVISION SHAKOPEE |SECTION II: ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT