Kiger's Notebook

Walgreens North opening date?

While it is not as hot of a topic as the opening date of Trader Joe's is, I have been wondering when the new Walgreens drug store (Roch.'s second) will open on Civic Center Drive Northwest.

This is the 7,000-square-foot store being built at Civic Center Drive and 11th Avenue Northwest has been under construction since this summer.

Now it looks to be entering the final stretch before opening. So I sent Vivika Vergana, my Walgreens contact, an e-mail asking around for a possible opening date.

No answer yet, but she is checking for me.

My guess? Early December.

However, I am rarely right on that kind of thing. We should have real information as soon as Vivika can get it for me.

This new store stands on the site where The International Buffet used to stand.

And that building was a Blockbuster prior to the restaurant.

Semper Development of Minneapolis is building the store and will lease it to Walgreens.

Management co. with local ties takes on Roch.'s 318 Commons

As  the University of Minnesota Rochester student housing and general apartment complex being built on First Avenue  continues to rise in downtown Rochester, a new deal just wrapped up for national company to manage it.

Called 318 Commons, G.H. Holdings is building the almost $28 million nine-story apartment complex. It is slated to include 98 apartments, ranging in size from three-bedroom units to efficiencies, as well as space for classrooms, offices, and a student life area.

U of M is leasing 70 apartments -- 148 beds -- for $1.4 million a year to house students as its Rochester campus grows. G.H. Holdings, a partnership between Hal Henderson and Grant Michelitz, plans to have the complex ready to use by the start of the 2011 school year.

  Now an Austin, Texas-based real estate company called Campus Advantage is signed up to manage 318 Commons. Campus Advantage manages more than 30,000 beds, at 52 locations in 21 states nationwide.

Adding another hook to this is the fact that Campus Advantage was founded and is run by a guy who grew up in Rochester and attended University of Minnesota.

His name is Mike Peter. I should be chatting with him or tomorrow, so watch for updates.

Here's a quote from the press release that rolled out Tuesday.

"These new start-ups are evidence that certain sectors of the real estate industry are beginning to thaw and attract new investment," said Mike Peter, President and CEO of Campus Advantage.  "We welcome these new communities to the Campus Advantage family, and expect more to join soon."

The complex is across First Avenue from the Minnesota BioBusiness Center and Dooley's Pub.

The complex will also include some retail and restaurant space. Long-empty buildings that last housed the Affiliated Group and the Ultra Lounge bar were scraped off of First Avenue to clear the way for the project.

Mayo Med Labs + electronic health records firm

Here's an interesting blip that I just noticed bouncing around the Internet.

VitalHealth, a software operation headquarted in Milwaukee, Wis. with offices around the world, is announcing a new partnershipwith Mayo Medical Laboratories at a medical conference in New Orleans this week.

This is all about that coveted plum called electronic health records. This segment health software is a very juicy fruit these days ripe with tasty financial potential.

I really should have eaten lunch today. Heh.

Anyway, Mayo Clinic, IBM, Microsoft, Google and everyone in between wants to make and sell the health records program that no hospital can do without.

Here's some from VitalHealth's press release:

VitalHealth and Mayo Medical Laboratories have entered into a collaboration to offer VitalHealth's Electronic Health Record (EHR) product, including a solution for physician office connectivity, as part of Mayo Medical Laboratories’ outreach offering.

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“We believe Mayo Medical Laboratories, a global reference laboratory operating within Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, is the ideal collaborator to create awareness through its field-based sales staff. Mayo Medical Laboratories has extensive laboratory knowledge gained through its 40 year history and its long standing relationships with community hospitals engaged in outreach services throughout the U.S.,” said VitalHealth CEO, Laurens van de Tang.
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VitalHealth’s EHR technology platform is based on several years of development at Mayo Clinic and will support the workflow needs of today’s small medical practices, including point-of-care decision support, population management, reporting and ordering and resulting of clinical and radiology diagnostic tests.

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“We believe this offering will be valued by our hospital and health system clients,” said Franklin R. Cockerill III, M.D., Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and President and CEO of Mayo Medical Laboratories. “Healthcare reform is accelerating the integration of hospital providers and their affiliated physicians to provide improved patient outcomes at lower cost across the continuum of care. The dissemination and use of EHRs are a critical and necessary part of improved healthcare.

One last observation. The chair of Mayo Clinic's research department, Dr. Bob Rizza, is chairman of VitalHealth's advisory board.

More on Crenlo/ Emcor's $200,000 fed contract

I chatted with Greg Wetzel, the general manager of Crenlo's Emcor division, about this Monday. 

Sounds like interesting things are in the works for Emcor. I think this a Rochester company worth keeping an eye on.

Here's my write-up about Crenlo/Emcor's latest federal contract. I mentioned this contract in an earlier posting on local contracts:

A new $200,852 contract with the U.S. Department of Defense is giving a Rochester manufacturer a little economic boost.

Crenlo Inc., which primarily makes cabs for construction and agriculture equipment, recently locked down the deal to sell more than 100 pilot consoles to the U.S. Air Education and Training Command at the Keesler Air Force Base Biloxi, Miss.

Emcor Enclosures, a division of Crenlo, makes the consoles.

While such a project is not unusual, Crenlo says this contract is larger — both in terms of dollar amount and number of units sold — than what the Defense Department typically awards for this type of project.

Emcor is not a major part of the Crenlo operation now. However, the company says it is moving ahead with "a strategic plan and vision to grow the Emcor business aggressively … "

Crenlo employs more than 600 people at its two Rochester facilities

Bunch of biz events to keep you busy

TONIGHT
• The Rochester Area Builders, Inc.'s annual meeting and member networking night is slated to run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the office of Schwickerts Co., 204 Schumann Drive N.W. in Stewartville.

• A Tweet Up, a gathering of Rochester area Twitter users, will start at 5:30 p.m. at Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill at 1705 S. Broadway.

THURSDAY
• The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's annual member gathering will run from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Rochester International Event Center.

FRIDAY
 
• Fuel Rochester,  the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's young professionals  group, is hosting its annual Poker Face casino-themed Halloween Bash from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Rochester Art Center at 40 Civic Center Dr. S.E. Cost is $5 for Fuel members and $10 for non-members. Light snacks will be served and a cash bar will be available. Prizes will be given for casino players and for best costumes.

MONDAY, NOV. 1
• The Diversity Leadership Summit: Perceptions of Inclusiveness in Rochester will start at 6 p.m. with networking beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the chapel at Bethel Lutheran Church, 810 Third Ave. S.E. in Rochester. The panel will be led by Dr. Sharonne Hayes, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Mayo Clinic. This event is sponsored by the Augsburg College MBA Program and Post-Bulletin. It is part of the "Connecting with the Community" learning series. This summit is free and open to the public.
• WorkLife Job Loss and Career Change Support Group, organized by career coach and facilitator Preston Hollister, will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Oasis Church, 1815 38th St. N.W. This week's featured speaker is David Chan, with 13 years experience in executive recruiting in Hong Kong for industries including technology, industrial/manufacturing/supply chain, financial services, and higher education. WorkLife is a free group designed to be "an encouraging place to network and learn."

TUESDAY, NOV. 2
• The Greater Rochester Express Network group will meet from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the Clarion Inn, 1630 S. Broadway in Rochester. Topic for the meeting is
"Be the Gift - Volunteer Opportunities." This month's speaker is Lisa Lundquist, volunteer initiative specialist for the United Way of Olmsted County. Cost is $15. Guest are welcome.  To RSVP or for more information, contact Carmen Nomann  at 252.0786 or carmen_nomann@yahoo.com.

• Healthy Employees = Healthy Employers is the topic of the monthly meeting of the Rochester Area Quality Council, which will run from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in Room  206/208 in the Coffman Building in the Rochester Community and Technical College's University Center. Beth Warren, director of the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), will make the presentation. The event is free for members, $15 partners/students and for $30 non-members. To register, contact jennifer.burmeister@councilforquality.org or or (507) 213-8132 before Friday.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3    
• A case study of the 318 Commons building is the focus of a breakfast meeting from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn at 225 S. Broadway. The Minnesota Commerical Association of Realtors - MNCAR - is the sponsoring the event. Cost is $20 for pre-registered members and $30  on the day of the event. Nonmembers will pay $25 ahead of time and $35 on the day of the event. For more information or to register,, call 952-908-1780 or go to www.mncar.org.

What do you want from me?

Well… more specificly, what do you want me to write about as my Heard on the Street column become a daily feature in the Post-Bulletin?

Chunks of "Street" will now be in every issue of the Post-Bulletin starting with this 
weekend's edition.

While print and TV promotions of this move are starting to roll out, I'm still working out of the details this new daily version of Street.

This column started out as a short brief in the weekly Business and Professional Notes column in 2002. Then it morphed into this blog in 2005 and then it became a twice a week print column in 2008.

And now this ongoing experiment is entering a new phase.

I tend to favor the "Work It Out On The Fly" method for new projects versus the more commonly used "Strategic Vision and Implementation Planning Process" that many Rochester institutions use.

As usual, I'm turning to my readers for help.

What topics would you like to read about daily in the Post-Bulletin?

More commercial real estate news? More about restaurant and bar news?

How about more business tidbits from communities like Byron, Chatfield, Stewartville, Pine Island, Taopi or wherever?

Are you interested in more stocks/earnings news about local companies like Hormel Foods or Rochester Medical?

Of course, I will still have plenty of updates on insanely popular businesses like Trader Joe's/ White Castle/ Chuck E. Cheese/ Sonic Drive-in.

And I'll continue to roll out the speculative and intentionally obscure Biz Buzz items.

Bottomline?

Tell me what you want me to write.

More Mayo in downtown Roch.

  I know Mayo Clinic adding more office space in downtown Rochester is not all that surprising. It is kind of like reporting, "The sun came up this morning."

Nonetheless, I thought this was interesting.

Mayo Clinic is adding to its already substantial  footprint in downtown Rochester.

Look for the administrative support staff for the Mayo Pharmacy to move into new offices in the store front space of Brackenridge Plaza at 21 Second St. S.W.

This sidewalk level spot used to be a H&R Block tax office. Going back a few years, it was also home to Victoria's Authentic Italian Cuisine before it moved to First Avenue.

Not sure how many Mayo folks will move in here. I did spot two guys sitting at a conference table this morning with lots of note-covered papers on the wall. The scene had that "Strategic planning/ brainstorming session" look about it.

I wonder what the Rochester's shadowy Guerilla Design Group would suggest to Mayo Clinic about how to design this store front turned into office space to best enhance the Med City's downtown?

More bouncing + Roch.

A Rochester business is jumping into a new project Friday to keep kids, as well as its equipment, busy through the coming Minnesota winter.

Look for Jolly Jumpz Bounce World to open up in the 15,000-square-foot indoor sports complex at 4430 19th. N.W.

The plan is to open up in the former gymnastics center for three days a week — Friday, Saturday and Sunday —  with about 10 of her company's giant inflatable toys and slides pumped up for bouncing.

While Rochester already has place for kids to bounce off the walls — The House of Bounce, Jolly Jumpz owner Kari McKenzie is confident that there is room for more.

"Definitely during the winter, there is never enough to do indoor," she said. "I don't think there is ever enough bouncing for kids. Put up an inflatable and you have kids come out of the woodwork."

Jolly Jumpz World will offer food, party rooms and schedule special kid-friendly events like performances by popular The Teddy Bear Band and The Rad Zoo.

Beside being a place for children with cabin fever to burn off energy, this new project will help McKenzie keep her fleet of almost 40 inflatables and her staff hopping during the cold months.

She bought Jolly Jumpz Amusements, which rents and sets up inflatables for parties and events this summer. And it kept them jumping with all of her inflatables rented out at once some weekends.

Travis "Diesel" Wiuff, a name familiar to fans of mixed martial arts fighting, will manage Bounce World.

Known across the country as one of the toughest guys in the grueling world of extreme fighting, Wiuff is really great with kids and loves taking his young daughter to go bouncing, said McKenzie.

"He is so intimidating, but he is such a sweet guy," she said.

Law firm to make a move

Even though I have teased the RDA's Jon Eckhoff about hammering away with the downtown Rochester catch phrase 'The Place To Be,' it must be subliminally influencing me.

Downtown has been all I've written about this week.

And if the word on the street is correct (And I'm pretty sure it is), I'll be having even more stories to write about soon. And that's no tall tale.

Anyway, here's what I wrote in my Thursday column about a historic law firm moving out of downtown:

When 2011 starts, expect a familiar name to be gone from Rochester's downtown.

 With some reluctance, the law office of Klampe, Delehanty & Morris is moving because it's outgrowing its space in the top of the historic building at 300 First Ave. N.W.

"We just ran out of room," says partner Mark Delehanty.

The firm is now made up of four attorneys and six support staff.

The law office, founded by the late Mike Klampe, is almost doubling its space by taking most of the fourth floor of the Olmsted National Bank building at U.S. 14 West and Superior Drive Northwest.

Delehanty says the idea of moving to a new almost 4,000-square-foot office with a panoramic view is exciting. However, it is sad to leave the downtown that he and the firm's staff have enjoyed for almost 30 years.

Mayo Clinic-linked biotech firm gets $7M, wants $10M more

Spotted this interesting clot of news floating through the Internet's bloodstream this afternoon.

Anexon Inc., a cardiovascular biotech company founded by a Mayo Clinic researcher that licenses a Mayo Clinic spliced natriuretic peptide, raised $7 million venture capital funding this week, according to SEC filings and a Boston Business Journal item.

  The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm, founded by Dr. Robert D. Simari of Mayo Clinic in 2007, is is reportedly in stealth mode.

According to a medical news site called Mass Device, there were two filings for completed funding rounds, one for $3 million and another for $2 million. The latest sale of equity, which seeks to raise $12 million, began on Oct. 14. So far, $2 million has rolled in.

The main product in Anexon's pipeline is ANX-042, a spliced and improved version of hormone B-type natriuretic peptide. This type of peptide hormone is used to treat heart failure patients.

I'll see if I can fill in some of the blanks in this story. Stay tuned.