Industrial Park Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Business & Industry in Pine Island.

For more information please contact:

MARC DENNISON, EDA Director- 507-356-8103

E mail: pieda@pitel.net

Pine Island Economic Development Authority

250 S. Main St., Suite 211

P. O. Box 727

Pine Island, MN 55963

www.pineislandmn.com

“Economic Development & Technology based Infrastructure in Pine Island, MN”

Pine Island is a small town of about 3,200 residents located 14 miles North of Rochester on U.S. 52, along the Crescent Growth Corridor stretching from St. Cloud to Rochester, and about 65 miles south of the Twin Cities Metro area.

Until recently, agriculture has been the main industry of Pine Island, with rich farmland, and many dairy farms that dotted the area’s history with little creameries, and farmhouses.  Because of the farm crisis of the mid 1980’s and the continuous integration of farm operation and food processing in general, Pine Island found itself merging its agricultural history with the up and coming high tech businesses.

Pine Island technology and telecommunication needs are well served by the Pine Island Telephone Company. Which over the years invested heavily in new state of the art equipment to help maintain a competitive edge, and provide its “rural” customers the best of both worlds; living in a small town, and access the best of what is available to telecom consumers in large metro areas of the country.

Pine Island Telephone Company continues to upgrade its network and facilities. All digital switches and fiber optic cable were installed in the 80’s. The Pine Island Telephone has invested in part of a Minneapolis - Rochester fiber optic network, and offered dial up internet service in the early days of the World Wide Web. DSL and high speed internet services has been available to most of their customers for over four years, and last year they have installed “fiber to the curb” bringing fiber to within a thousand feet of every building and home in the communities of Pine Island and Oronoco (PITELCO service area).

Pine Island Telephone Company also provides digital cable and Pay per View to all their customers. In 2002 the Pine Island Telephone Company is moving forward to install DSL in some of the far corners of the countryside.  In addition, Pine Island and Oronoco area customers have access to live customer service that does not rely on answering machines and 800 numbers to address customers concerns.

In the early 1990’s many of our storefronts on Main Street sat vacant. It is tough to compete with Big Box retailers in Rochester, while the physical size and location of the historic downtown buildings can no longer accommodate the size and parking requirements of the new retail stores. They still, however, offered a reasonably priced, convenient location to house offices, and other service oriented businesses. Therefore this helped us attract and grow a mix of new breed and traditional businesses.

Help Systems, Inc. a Minnetonka, MN based company located an office on Main Street in what was once a local bar. Help Systems is a software development company developing among other items, applications for the AS400 system.

Law office, insurance companies, surveyors, accountants, financial planners and the local bank, all have taken advantage of available communication technologies to increase their efficiencies and competitiveness to better serve their customers. Whether offering telebanking, getting the latest financial information on the internet, or in the case of insurance companies requiring large amounts of information, they all remain connected to their main offices.  All these businesses are located on traditional downtown Main Street, and with the type of communication infrastructure offered in Pine Island, we can be confident of the continued viability of our Main Street well into the 21st Century

In the past, a prospective business would ask us, "What does your community have for infrastructure?", referring to the availability and cost of providing streets, sewer, water lines, and fire protection. Now, prospective businesses are also asking for the type and quality of internet services we have available here in Pine Island. They are asking technical questions about communication and internet services. They are also concerned about what type of maintenance is offered and whom to contact for such services?

The answer, in our case is always, “get in touch with the Pine Island Telephone Company”, and within minutes you will have all the information you need. In fact, often times I walked with a new business locating in town over to the Telephone Company located on the next block and introduced the prospective business to the customer service desk and they answered all of the business owner’s questions within a few minutes. What I hear in return from the business owner is this, “you mean I do not have to go home and call some 800 number to set up my service?”  Those same businesses are often surprised to find out, in addition to the less expensive cost of doing business in Pine Island, (compared to the Metro area, or for that matter Rochester) they will also get the best communication technology available to any downtown Minneapolis firm right here, minus the traffic and parking hassles of a major urban area.

Farm Country Co-op. A regional farmer's elevator, which has recently expanded into nearby towns, needed to connect all of their “branches” to the main office in Pine Island. The Pine Island Telephone Company installed a new communication network which enables the main office to share data and keep everyone informed instantaneously throughout SE Minnesota.

Island Tool & Die. A small tool and die job shop, which opened in Pine Island about 7 years ago. It relies heavily on high speed internet access to send and receive huge volumes of data from customers and product designers. They are also able to capture an additional market segment because of the locally available high speed internet service.

Progressive Tool & Manufacturing. A contract manufacturer, which moved to Pine Island from Rochester almost 10 years ago, continues to be a vibrant part of the manufacturing industry. PTM has two facilities in Pine Island, one is their plastic injection molding, and the other is a new 50,000 square foot metal stamping and fabricating facility. PTM has both facilities, which are located on either side of our industrial park, connected via LAN that was installed by the Pine Island Telephone Company. PTM also has full access to high speed internet to move huge volume of CAD and other tool and manufacturing design data throughout the world.

Wally Klopp’s Cheese Mart and Brew Shop. This is a prime example of a business born in the tradition of the area’s agriculture and dairy history. Wally’s takes full advantage of what Pine Island has to offer in telecommunication tech. Wally’s offers customers, not just in our neighborhood, but throughout the U.S.A., in fact the world, cheese products, wine and beer making equipment and know how.

The Pine Island Public Schools. Recently the school web site and the information technology offered at the Pine Island schools was named one of the best offered in the state of Minnesota. The Pine Island Telephone Company installed 400 data jacks in the school and provided internet access to improve education quality to the students’ experience.

The Pine Island Economic Development Authority.  The EDA has worked very closely with the Pine Island Telephone Company over the last ten years to provide not just the best in communication and technology infrastructure, but also some of the funds needed to spur economic development activities and business expansion. The Pine Island Telephone Company was behind a $400,000 zero-percent (0%) loan to a local manufacturer, which expanded its operation in town. In addition, PITEL assisted the EDA in obtaining Federal funds to improve and upgrade roads in our industrial park, and maintain the City’s water tower.

The most important factor underlying all the new technology and resources we are fortunate to have in town, has always been the fact that all of the residents of the City of Pine Island work well together. We all have the same aspirations and goals in seeing our town grow and prosper, and that all of us operate in a business environment, which is not beyond the human scale. We do not care what the challenges might be; all we know is we can overcome the worst of circumstances and tribulations by simply relying on each other to do his or her part.

The proof for this statement is all over town, and in the experiences and stories shared by all our businesses and area residents.

BY: Abraham Algadi, This article was published in the Economic Development Association of MN newsletter October 2003