Anoka County Economic Development
Since 2018 the Anoka County Economic Development Specialist, Jacquel Hajder, has been working on the City’s behalf to engage potential stakeholders and partners. She has been an asset to the community.
Part of Hajder’s work has been establishing the Minnesota Technology Corridor. The MN Tech Corridor is a collaboration between Anoka County, Washington County, Connexus Energy, and other regional partners including the City of Columbus. The goal for the collaboration is to attract technology companies to the north metro (including multiple locations in Columbus’ Freeway District). The area benefits from an abundant electrical capacity, unlimited fiber optic bandwidth, large parcels of available land, and a talented workforce. These benefits along with the north metro’s proximity to the Twin Cities, as one of the top tech cities in North America (according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Tech Cities report), makes the Minnesota Technology Corridor an ideal location for technology companies of all types. Detailed information about the initiative is compiled on a new website, mntechcorridor.com. The website also contains a site selector component which highlights various available properties in the corridor.
The Technology Corridor project won an Association of Minnesota Counties Award at their annual conference in December of 2019.
In 2019, Hajder also helped launch the Anoka County Regional Economic Development website, anokacountysuccess.org. A first of its kind for Anoka County, this website is a valuable resource. Visitors to the site can learn about the region’s benefits, property for sale, and Anoka County’s economic development news. Overall, the Anoka County Regional Economic Development team is committed to bringing economic opportunities to the region.