St. Cloud Downtown Council plans research

The St. Cloud Downtown Council is taking the next step for its vision of a "silicon prairie" in downtown St. Cloud.

The council announced last week it has received a $3,500 grant from the Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation to research the aspects of attracting technology companies downtown.

About 20 technology companies are located in downtown St. Cloud to be near Qwest's central office, which has given them access to high-speed bandwidth, reliable power and cheaper costs.

This technology cluster has prompted the Downtown Council to look into using this benefit to attract similar businesses to the area, said Pegg A.K. Gustafson, the council's executive director.

The council said it will match that grant to hire downtown advertising business Agency 128 to start the marketing research.

"We really think that we have a competitive edge and we want due diligence while we have that edge," Gustafson said. "If there is really something here, we need to market that and figure out what our prospects are."

The Initiative Foundation and St. Cloud-based print and digital design agency Brain Magnet partnered last year to develop a map of current technology businesses that cluster downtown.

Gustafson said the marketing research will look into the assets and challenges of locating downtown, the types of technology businesses most likely to locate there and how the council can market to those businesses.

The research also will look at how St. Cloud can target young entrepreneurs who are looking for inexpensive locations to house their startup companies.

"We can't forget that younger age group," Gustafson said. "This might be the perfect incubator for them."

After the market research is completed, the next phase will focus on putting together a marketing packet to attract specific companies, Gustafson said.