Missed Opportunities: St. Jude moving to Plymouth
Posted on January 6, 2012
Minnetonka Patch is reporting on what should be seen as a big loss for Minnetonka: St. Jude Medical consolidating operations in a new Plymouth campus, taking jobs out of Minnetonka in the process.
The company announced plans to expand its presence in Plymouth, Minn. with a construction project designed to expand its current facilities and consolidate operations for the company’s Cardiovascular Division.
The St. Jude Medical board of directors recently approved plans to add a three-story portion to its existing Plymouth building located at 5050 Nathan Lane, consolidating the company’s current Cardiovascular Division leased locations in Minnetonka and Maple Grove with existing operations at the site.
We shouldn’t blame Plymouth for this loss; our neighbors to the north would be silly not to take advantage of this opportunity. Minnetonka must focus on the small neighborhood businesses that are vital parts of our neighborhoods, but large campus-centered businesses like this are a driver of economic vitality as well. Employees spend money on other local businesses during and after the work day. They tend to be exactly the same people we need to attract to Minnetonka: young and mid-career professionals, family members who work in growing, high-tech, well-paying industries. When we lose employers like St. Jude Medical to neighboring cities, we risk becoming a bedroom community, increasingly vulnerable to economic downturns.
As your next City Council member, I’ll make sure our city’s leadership works hard to keep these employers in town and expand high-tech professional job opportunities in town.
