GRATEFUL HEARTS ABOUND IN LAKEVILLE, MINNESOTA THIS THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving from APPRO and CERRON

This season we are thankful for so much! At APPRO and CERRON, this Thanksgiving, we are grateful for our long time friends and colleagues in the Airlake Industrial Park, Lakeville, and the South Metro region of Minnesota, as well as our friends in Tioga, Williston, and Minot, North Dakota, who have helped contribute to our success over the past 25 years.

As I think about the early pilgrims, I think about the celebration of hard working people who came together to share their blessings with one another. They were a team that worked hard to build a new life and then celebrated their triumph over some pretty tough times.

Every day, our team has an opportunity to help our clients serve others. Whether they are making medical instruments to save lives, durable plastics for products to make life easier, providing nourishing food for our nation and the world, or providing the packaging for those products , we are grateful for our role of providing the building solutions to meet each of those unique needs.

As you sit down and celebrate your Thanksgiving meal with friends and family, we hope you will know that we are grateful for you and the role you have played over the years!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at APPRO and CERRON!

P.S. We thought you might find the following Thanksgiving Facts fun to share with friends and family this year: http://www.whsv.com/seasonal/misc/33852054.html. Enjoy!

Lakeville Manufacturers Appreciation Event – 2012

Lakeville Manufacturers Reception APPRO CERRON Wine Giveaway
Personalized Wine Bottles for APPRO & CERRON Drawing

I had the privilege of attending this year’s Lakeville Manufacturers Appreciation Reception, on October 24, 2012, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The event was sponsored by the City of Lakeville and Dakota Electric Association, Frontier Communications, Minnesota Energy Resources, and Xcel Energy. The event was held at the Lakeville Holiday Inn and Suites. The reception was well attended, including Lakeville Mayor Mark Bellows, who gave an optimistic address to attendees and was also joined by City of Lakeville staff and council members.

I was delighted to represent APPRO Development, Inc., general contractor, design-build company and CERRON Commercial Properties, LLC, commercial real estate broker, both located in Lakeville, MN, along side many other Lakeville businesses. I learned a lot about some amazing manufacturers in our local business community.

As a thank you, and to help celebrate APPRO’s 25th anniversary this year, we conducted a drawing for two personalized bottles of wine. We are proud to announce the following winners:

Craig Nelson a Project Manager with BTD Manufacturing was the winner of a bottle of wine (as Craig has a generous spirit, he may be sharing his bottle with fellow friends – thank you for helping to spread the cheer!)

BTD-APPRO Wine Giveaway 2012

The other winner was Andrew Shaffer, who along with his wife Shelly, are the owners of Bass Flexible Packaging, Inc. I understand they were pretty excited to receive the wine and have planned a date night to celebrate!

APPRO Bass wine giveaway, 2012

Congratulations to the winners – thank you for helping us celebrate 25 years! It is our privilege to serve and be a part of our local manufacturing community!

Minneapolis St Paul Regional Business Plan

Minneapolis St Paul Regional Business Plan

I recently attended a forum on restoring job growth in the Minneapolis St Paul region that was sponsored by The Itasca Project which is an employer led civic alliance focused on building a thriving economy and improved quality of life for the Minneapolis- St. Paul metro region. Some of this work can be found at www.metromsp.org where you can search all available commercial properties that are for sale or for lease. It is a joint public-private
partnership with DEED and MNCAR. MSP has long had a history of stable growth, not boom or bust like some other cities. “Steady success over recent decades renders the region less prepared to deal with data suggesting a pattern of decline. MSP’s growth rates over recent years for productivity, incomes and employment have all trailed national averages.” Venture capital firms and new business start up rankings have also declined. However, for homegrown Fortune 500 businesses, Minnesota ranks at the top.

According to the executive summary, the time is NOW to bring together multiple regional efforts utilizing 6 critical leverage points:

1) Cluster concentration of industries, functions and occupations

2) Develop and deploy human capital for economic growth

3) Develop an infrastructure of innovation and entrepreneurship

4) Increase spatial efficiency

5) Create effective public and civic culture and institutions

6) Develop and deploy information resources

The four main industry clusters include food, health, design and the arts as identified by 4FRONT, a non-profit organization established to identify, attract, nurture and recognize world-class inventors, entrepreneurs and artists.

All businesses start out small in some shape or form. Now is the time to position your business for the 21st century. Taking advantage of a buyer’s real estate market is one way to help your business grow as we see improvement in our economy. Contact us at 952-469-9444, www.cerron.com or email me at rozp@cerron.com to learn more.