Economic Development Report 2022ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
CITY OF NEW HOPE, MINNESOTA
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
The city of New Hope Economic Development Report highlights redevelopment projects
throughout the city from the previous year and the tools that are in place to promote
development activity. The city’s Economic Development Authority promotes and facilitates
business development and housing redevelopment activities.
OVERVIEW & HISTORY
CITY OF NEW HOPE OVERVIEW & HISTORY
LOCATION
The city of New Hope is a suburb located northwest
of Minneapolis with strong neighborhoods, an
abundance of parks and recreational opportunities,
excellent schools, and great shopping nearby. The
city has easy access to the entire Twin Cities area
with major arterials of Highway 169, Highway 100,
Interstate 694, and Interstate 394 all nearby.
POPULATION (2020 CENSUS)SIZE/AREA YEAR FORMED
21,986 5.1 square miles 1953
BUSINESSES JOBS SHOPPING CENTERS
480 11,080 5
SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOLS PARKS/ACREAGE
Robbinsdale Area (281)5 18/200
HISTORY
In the early 1900s, New Hope was a farming-rich
community. The area was settled as part of Crystal
Lake Township and became the home for many
family farms. As housing developments spread west
from Minneapolis in the 1930s, the residents of Crystal Lake Township began the movement to
incorporate the township. In 1936, the city of Crystal was incorporated. Forming a city, though,
was not supported by all residents in the township. The rural residents in the western half of
the township broke away from the city of Crystal and formed their own township. The resistant
residents, mostly farmers, were unhappy about paying taxes for projects such as street lighting
and sanitary sewer. The name the farmers selected for their new township was a reflection of
the time, New Hope.
Many residents along the New Hope-Crystal border formed groups and requested to be
annexed by Crystal in order to receive what were the most modern city services at the time.
Others, however, were happy to be part of New Hope township and remained separate from
Crystal. Therefore, pockets of New Hope residents were created along the eastern boundary.
By the early 1950s, the rapidly developing township of New Hope chose the fate it had eluded
just over 15 years earlier. In 1953, New Hope incorporated as a city to prevent losing more of
its land and residents to Crystal via annexation. This move was again opposed by the farming
community of New Hope, but housing developments between 1936 and 1953 had made farmers
a minority in New Hope.
When the township was incorporated, it had 600 residents. The city grew rapidly and was home
to over 2,500 people by 1958. This rapid population growth continued through the 1960s, and by
1971, there were 24,000 residents in New Hope. The population of the community has declined
slightly since 1971.
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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
The city of New Hope’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) promotes and facilitates business
development activities. It considers proposals on a case-by-case basis and utilizes a broad base of public
financing options. Membership of the EDA is identical to that of the New Hope City Council. Council members
are appointed to the commission for terms concurrent with the City Council terms and the mayor acts as
president of the authority. The city manager serves as the executive director. The city employs various
resources to help businesses grow and reach their goals.
BUSINESSES & ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Local commercial and industrial businesses are extremely important to the city. The City Council has
undertaken programs and initiatives to address both commercial and industrial properties. These programs
focus on:
• Retaining existing businesses.
• Assisting with expansions.
• Attracting new businesses to vacant available buildings.
• Attracting new construction to a limited number of available vacant sites.
• Improving communication with businesses and responding more effectively to business concerns and
inquiries.
BUSINESS SUBSIDY PROGRAM
The city’s business subsidy program addresses policies related to the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF),
tax abatement, and other business assistance programs for private development. It serves as a guide
in reviewing applications requesting business assistance. All projects must meet mandatory minimum
approval criteria and the level of assistance is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Assistance can cover
project costs as allowed for under Minnesota Statutes. The EDA considers using a business assistance tool
to assist private developments in circumstances in which the proposed private project meets one of the
following uses:
• Provides a diversity of housing not currently provided by the private market.
• Provides a variety of housing ownership alternatives and housing choices.
• Promotes affordable housing for low- or moderate-income individuals.
• Promotes neighborhood stabilization and revitalization through the removal of blight and by upgrading
the existing housing stock in residential areas.
• Removes blight and encourages redevelopment in the commercial and industrial areas of the city
in order to encourage high levels of property maintenance and private reinvestment in those areas,
including façade improvement.
• Increases the tax base of the city to ensure the long-term ability of the city to provide adequate services
for its residents, while lessening the reliance on residential property tax.
• Retains local jobs, increases the local job base, and provides diversity in that job base.
• Increases the local business and industrial market potential of the city.
• Encourages additional unsubsidized private development in the area, either directly or through
secondary “spinoff” development.
• Offsets increased costs of redevelopment over and above the costs that a developer would incur in
normal development.
• Accelerates the development process and achieves development on sites that would not be developed
without this assistance.
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CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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LOAN PROGRAMS
The city has partnered with the lending center at the Center for
Energy and Environment (CEE) to offer a convenient one-stop service
that provides commercial and non-profit property owners in New Hope
access to a comprehensive array of financing and rehabilitation services.
The CEE Loan Program provides financing to New Hope businesses making cost-effective, energy efficiency
improvements. Nonprofit organizations that are interested in reducing their energy costs are eligible to
apply for funds through the CEE to help finance energy-efficient projects implemented in properties owned
and/or occupied by nonprofit entities.
OUTSTANDING BUSINESS AWARD PROGRAM
The city’s Outstanding Business Award Program was initiated in 2006 to recognize contributions by
businesses to the local community. The purpose of the award program is to recognize businesses for
noteworthy accomplishments such as expanding or improving a building or property, creating new jobs for
New Hope residents, reaching a milestone year in business, or providing outstanding community service.
Nominations are accepted quarterly for the award.
BUSINESS NETWORKING GROUP
The New Hope Business Networking Group was started by New Hope business owners in 2010 to create an
open forum for networking within the city. The group is open and free to all New Hope business owners.
The Business Networking Group meets regularly at one of the participating businesses. The city is also a
long-time member of Minneapolis Regional Chamber (previously TwinWest Chamber of Commerce).
OPEN TO BUSINESS
Open to Business is a partnership between New Hope and the
Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD), an
association of nonprofit community development organizations
serving the Twin Cities. With the help of a matching grant from
Hennepin County, the city works with MCCD to provide business
consultation services and financial advice to small local business
owners and aspiring business owners. The program offers help in
several areas, including:
• Business plan assistance
• Financial management
• Bookkeeping set-up and training
• Loan packaging
• Real estate analysis
• Marketing assistance
• Strategic planning
• Professional referrals
Entrepreneurs can meet with a business advisor one-on-one digitally or in person by scheduling an
appointment. In 2018, one loan was facilitated and approved through the program. Open to Business
provided services for three new businesses and one existing business in 2019. To prevent defaults and
abandoned commercial spaces in 2020, multiple municipalities received emergency CARE Act funds from
the U.S. Treasury. Open to Business helped DEED and Hennepin County design a one-time forgivable loan
program for businesses that were forced to close and did all the underwriting and disbursements. During
this time, Open to Business advisors also continued to provide technical assistance and advisory services for
over 50 metro area communities, helping four New Hope businesses navigate funding resources. In 2021,
business advisors met with seven New Hope businesses and provided 48.5 hours of technical advisory
assistance. Four of the clients were considering opening a business and three were existing businesses.
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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EMPLOYMENT
There are approximately 480 commercial/industrial/service businesses in the city, 86 of which opened in
2021. These businesses account for approximately 11,080 jobs in the city. The city’s 15 largest employers,
which are listed below, account for many of those jobs.
MAJOR EMPLOYERS
Employer Products/Services New Hope-Based Employees
(Total Employees)
Independent School District 281 Education 631 (1,792)
Minnesota Masonic Home/
North Ridge Care Center Skilled nursing care facility 560
Hy-Vee Grocery & convenience store 370
Horwitz Mechanical contractor 348
City of New Hope Government agency 338 including seasonal staff
Padagis Pharmaceutical and medicine
manufacturing 315
St. Therese Home of New Hope Skilled nursing care facility 286 (787)
YMCA Health club 228
Liberty Diversified International Stationery supplies 200
Intermediate District 287 Education 199 (791)
Parker - Hannifin Oildyne Division Hydraulic component production 172
Dakota Growers Pasta Company Macaroni & spaghetti 159
Waymouth Farms, Inc.Salted & roasted nuts & seeds 150
Good Samaritan Society Skilled nursing care facility 136
Avtec Warehousing & metal finishing 118
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
The city continues to see sustained growth and development as major redevelopment projects near
completion. Overall development activity has slowed in recent years due in part to the pandemic, though
the city anticipates that more growth will take place over the next several years.
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
From 2017-2021, $213,863,882 of reinvestment was approved in the city through construction permits. The
city is striving to increase momentum to continually increase the tax base, while providing the highest level
of services to residents, businesses, and property owners. Building permits for the construction of a new
city center aquatic center and community theater were issued in 2019, accounting for nearly $18 million
of the $38 million in work for the year. The large increase in valuation of work in 2017 can be attributed to
IronWood, a 182-unit luxury apartment project valued at $43 million.
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY BY YEAR
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Permits issued 2,652 2,441 2,459 2,536 2,870
Fees collected $867,289 $506,883 $452,267 $513,900 $544,109
Valuation of work $71,895,249 $46,952,876 $38,288,981 $27,832,249 $28,894,527
VALUATION OF WORK
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
$10,000,000
$20,000,000
$30,000,000
$40,000,000
$50,000,000
$60,000,000
$70,000,000
$80,000,000
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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The following planning and development activities occurred in the last year:
Windsor Ridge
SVK Development completed the construction of 32 new single-family homes on an 8.7-acre site that was
previously undeveloped and owned by the city. In the fall of 2018, the city received six proposals from four
developers for the site. After careful consideration, SVK Development was selected as the preferred builder
for the site. The new homes included a mix of rambler, split level, and two-story designs and sold for an
average price of $430,000. The project helped provide step-up housing options within the city and brought
more than $13.76 million in new value to the city. The city of Crystal also developed another three lots just
east of the project.
CITY OF CITY OF
CRYSTALCRYSTAL
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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New Hope Aquatic Center
Plans for a new outdoor aquatic facility and
other improvements within Civic Center
Park started in early 2017. Construction on
the complex started in April of 2018. The
approximate cost of the project was $19.5
million. For the pool part of the project, the
city received a grant from the state for $2
million, a Hennepin Youth Sports Facility
Grant for $250,000, and a Minnesota
Swimmers Grant for $40,000. The new pool
facility includes a bathhouse with
concession stand, a 50-meter, eight-lane
pool, diving boards, drop slide and floatable
water obstacle course, a current channel,
vortex pool, two body slides, shallow water
area with zero depth entry and play feature,
water walk area, and shade structures. The
bather load for the new facility is 1,233 people and the pools hold a total of more than 700,000 gallons of
water. A June 2020 opening was planned but postponed until June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pool attendance for 2021 was 46,863, up significantly from the 18,761 visitors who went to the old pool
the last year it was open, in 2017. Other improvements within Civic Center Park include a new outdoor
performance center with terraced seating, a picnic pavilion, skate park, trails, trail lighting, and an additional
parking lot.
Escuela Éxitos
Charter Schools Development Corporation (CSDC) purchased the property at 4741 Zealand Avenue North
in 2021 and obtained a conditional use permit to open a two-way dual language Spanish/English immersion
school. The property was previously
owned by a church. More than $1 million
in improvements were made to the facility
prior to opening for the 2021-2022 school
year. The kindergarten through 8th grade
charter school includes 20 classrooms and
planned to serve 165 students during the
2021-2022 school year with enrollment
increasing and capping out at 390 students
by the 2023-2024 school year. According
to the operator, the school model will help
meet a growing demand of families in New
Hope and surrounding communities that
currently sit on long waitlists for immersion
school options.
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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Pocket Square Cocktail Lounge
A new microdistillery with a cocktail room
opened at 7530 42nd Avenue North in the
spring of 2021. A. Davis Distillery obtained a
conditional use permit in January 2020 to open
the facility, however, its opening was delayed
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pocket Square
Cocktail Lounge is the only microdistillery and
cocktail lounge in the northwest metro and
serves gin, vodka, and rum, all of which are
produced on site.
Hamernick’s Flooring Superstore
Hamernick’s Flooring Superstore opened a location
at 9449 Science Center Drive in New Hope in the
spring of 2021. The original Hamernick’s location
opened in Saint Paul 75 years ago as a small carpet
and paint store. The New Hope location specializes
in luxury vinyl tile and luxury vinyl plank flooring,
one of the more popular trends in flooring design.
Interior remodeling was completed prior to the
opening of the new location.
ORIJIN STONE
ORIJIN STONE, a direct-to-trade natural stone wholesaler,
relocated their operations and staff of 28 employees to New
Hope in October of 2020. The business is known for its
innovation in the stone industry, premium quality, and
exclusive natural stone products from around the world.
After purchasing the vacant 110,000-square foot building at
5100 Boone Avenue North in February of 2020, ORIJIN STONE
constructed a state-of-the-art custom fabrication facility for
natural stone. The renovated space includes a new showroom,
remodeled office space, and a reconfigured warehouse.
Interior improvements to the building include new skylights
and roofing, mechanical and heating systems, plumbing and
bathrooms, breakrooms, overhead doors, cranes, windows
and doors, concrete flooring, and significant repairs to the
building. Exterior upgrades include the construction of a new
32-stall parking lot, new lighting and fencing, structural repairs,
and painting of the building. The family-owned business started
in 2011 and the new location will allow for continued growth
and expansion.
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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HOUSING
LOAN PROGRAMS
Loans and financing for home improvement projects are available to residents of New Hope through the
Center for Energy and Environment and Hennepin County.
Center for Energy and Environment
The city has partnered with the lending center at the Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) to offer
a convenient one-stop service that provides residential property owners in New Hope access to a
comprehensive array of financing and rehabilitation services. The Low Interest Loan Program provides
loans and funds to homeowners to make improvements to their properties. An Emergency Deferred Loan
is also available for homeowners that have emergency improvement needs but do not qualify for other
home improvement loan or grant programs. The program is funded with Economic Development Authority
(EDA) funds. The following loans/subsidies/leveraged funds have been issued to New Hope residents
through the CEE in recent years:
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Loans/Subsidies/
Leveraged Funds 9 4 3 5 13
Amount $78,682 $71,438 $35,320 $71,822 $259,574
Hennepin County
Hennepin County’s Home Rehab Program enables income-qualified residents to request loans that address
basic safety, maintenance, and health concerns, as well as home improvements. Loans up to $30,000 at
0% interest are available to residents of New Hope. No monthly payments are required, and the loans may
be forgiven after 15 years if residents continue to live in and own their home. The program is funded with
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds allocated to Hennepin County through the Department
of Housing and Urban Development. The following loans have been issued to New Hope residents through
Hennepin County in recent years:
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Loans 1 1 1 1 2
Amount $6,840 $12,600 $28,965 $30,000 $59,800
Curbside Appeal Reimbursement Program
In July of 2022, the city launched the Curbside Appeal Reimbursement Program to encourage homeowners
to make improvements to the exterior of their homes and garages in areas that are visible from the
street. The city reimburses a portion of costs for projects meeting eligibility requirements. The goals of the
program include improving the city’s housing stock, instilling confidence in neighborhoods, and increasing
home values.
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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SCATTERED SITE HOUSING
Over the years, the city has utilized its Economic Development Authority (EDA) to acquire several properties
as part of the Scattered Site Housing Program. The primary focus of the program is to target distressed
single-family properties throughout the city, with the goal of improving residential neighborhoods. The
program currently emphasizes two primary activities: demolition and rehabilitation. When homes are
demolished, the vacant lot is sold to a builder for the construction of a new single-family home. Homes
that are rehabilitated are sold on the open market. The following scattered site housing projects were
completed and sold over the last year:
Address Previously
Assessed Value Sale Price Percent
Increase Project Type
8720 47th Ave N $213,000 $299,000 40%Habitat for Humanity
Rehabilitation
4215 Louisiana Ave N $249,000 $435,000 75%Demolition &
rebuild
5353 Oregon Ave N $75,000 $385,750 414%Demolition, lot
split & rebuild
SCATTERED SITE HOUSING PROJECTS
8720 47th Ave N 5353 Oregon Ave N
$50,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000
$250,000
$300,000
$350,000
$400,000
Previously Assessed Value Sale Price
$450,000
4215 Louisiana Ave N
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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4215 Louisiana Ave N - Before 4215 Louisiana Ave N - After
7215 62nd Ave N - Before
8720 47th Ave N - Before 8720 47th Ave N - After
7215 62nd Ave N - Before
5353 Oregon Ave N - Before 5353 Oregon Ave N - After
SCATTERED SITE HOUSING
In addition to these completed projects, there were four other scattered site homes under construction or
projects in progress as of when this report was published, including:
• Demolition and rebuild at 4637 Aquila Avenue North (new home sold for $460,000 in 2022).
• Demolition and rebuild at 5213 Pennsylvania Avenue North (new home sold for $575,000 in 2022).
• Demolition and rebuild at 5306 Rhode Island Avenue North (under construction).
• Demolition, lot split, and rebuild at 4201 Boone Avenue North (demolition preparation work underway).
Homes sold in 2022 will be highlighted in the 2023 Economic Development Report. Since 2014, more than
$4.7 million in value has been added to the city’s tax base through the scattered site housing program.
CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
PROPERTY VALUES
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Taxable market
value $1,697,092,365 $1,831,436,951 $2,021,382,123 $2,177,389,934 $2,308,596,615
Percent change 10.56%7.92%10.37%7.72%6.03%
PROPERTY VALUES
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
$400,000,000
$800,000,000
$1,200,000,000
$1,600,000,000
$2,000,000,000
$2,400,000,000
$2,800,000,000
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CITY OF NEW HOPE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT
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MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD VALUES
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Median
Household Value $213,000 $229,000 $244,000 $257,000 $275,000
Percent change 8.67%7.51%6.55%5.33%7.00%
HOUSEHOLD VALUE
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
$50,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000
$250,000
$300,000
$350,000