Woodbury survey finds good growth climate

Health and medical services continue to grow in Woodbury and the city's retail climate remains strong, a city business survey shows.

The findings show that Woodbury is a prime shopping destination, said Janelle Schmitz, city planning and economic development manager.

Some businesses outside Woodbury, she said, identify themselves with the city.

"We know that there's something to the name 'Woodbury' that brings punch," she said.

Although a small number of the city's 870 businesses responded to the survey, results were consistent with past surveys, Schmitz said.

The survey showed, for example, that businesses value Woodbury's location at the intersection of Interstate Hwys. 94 and 494, as well as the city's growth, image, lower crime rate and more affluent demographics.

On the negative side, some businesses complained about the higher cost of land and buildings, a cost of living too high for employees, relative lack of public transportation and the distance to downtown Minneapolis.

For example, CornerStone Medical Specialty Centre recently opened a 57,000-square-foot clinic at Lake Road and I-494, she said.

Woodwinds Hospital built eight more maternity and surgical beds and three triage rooms that will open Wednesday, and Prairie St. John's of Fargo, N.D., has proposed building an 80-bed psychiatric hospital in Woodbury.

A medical office study the city commissioned in 2007 showed Woodbury as underserved in medical services compared with several other suburbs, including nearby Maplewood.

The study concluded Woodbury was a prime city for such growth because it had less medical office space, fewer hospital beds and fewer doctors than would be expected in a trade area of its size.

Woodbury, with a population of nearly 60,000, is the largest city in the county and is projected to grow to 73,500 residents and 30,500 households by 2020.