Despite facing the prospect of losing nearly 700 corporate jobs over the span of nine months, officials in Woodbury and Oakdale strongly believe their cities will rebound.
But some leaders wonder whether a lack of transit options might hamper potential growth.
Woodbury lost 190 jobs last month as the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. moved its mutual fund operation from the city. And Education Credit Management Corp., now known as ECMC Group, plans to move its corporate headquarters and 500 employees from Imation Corp.'s Oakdale campus to downtown Minneapolis by February 2016, according to CEO Dave Hawn.
The departures come as the former headquarters building for another major employer that left town a decade ago — State Farm — still sits empty at Radio Drive and Interstate 94 in Woodbury, while construction of the huge CityPlace office, retail and restaurant development nearby roars ahead.
Local officials believe an improving economy will help attract employers and jobs. What's more, leasing agents say the Hartford building and the Imation property feature technology and other amenities that already are drawing interest from potential tenants.
But Washington County Commissioner Lisa Weik worries that east-metro transit options need to be improved to attract the kind of companies that would be eager to hire millennials, who often prefer public transportation.
She pointed to a recent announcement that State Farm will develop major offices only near transit lines. Washington County, meanwhile, has no all-day transit service and much of the county's workforce commutes to jobs outside the county, she said.
Hawn said that tapping a larger labor market was the primary focus of ECMC Group's move to Minneapolis. But the company's interest in hiring millennials, who "like to live, work and play in the same general area," may have helped drive its decision to move to a spot where mass transit options are abundant, said John McCarthy, executive director of brokerage services at Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq.
