Inside the Global Marketplace

02/04—The Neighborhood Development Center, along with other “community-based partner organizations and investors,” will own and manage the Global Marketplace as a self-supporting unit within the Midtown Exchange development.

As the NDC has done in its previous ventures, it will rely heavily on partnerships, said MIke Temali, the organization's director. NDC is working with the Latino Economic Development Center and the African Development Center to recruit, and, in some cases, train business owners for the Global Marketplace. And it has pursued ties with the Phillips Community Development Center, Northside Residents Redevelopment Council, Minnesota Indian Economic Development Fund and Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers, among others.

NDC has received early support from major foundations, including the Ford Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Early concept plans have produced a $14 million estimate for construction, roughly a tenth of the total cost for the Midtown Exchange. The NDC has budgeted approximately $1.3 million for pre-development through 2005.

The MCW Partnership has also begun discussions with NDC to determine an approach for financial support.

NDC's leasing plan will strike an even split among start-ups, move-ups and anchors.

Anchors (33%)
Well-known established ethnic food businesses such as Ingebretsons, Holy Land, etc. that could serve as a draw for visitors experiencing Lake Street for the first time.

Second-stage businesses (33%)
Ethnic oriented food or craft businesses with an existing customer base looking to broaden and expand their market to include customers from outside their own ethnic group or to establish an additional location. NDC and its partners would assist these businesses with specialized technical assistance, training, and lending, and would look to recruit potential businesses among existing NDC alumni businesses.

Start-ups (33%)
NDC will recruit from the more than 300 prospective entrepreneurs that it and its partners train annually.

Temali said he would like to see owners that reflect the spectrum of ethnicities found in the Twin Cities – from traditional groups like Scandanavians, African-Americans, American Indians and Eastern Europeans to recent immigrants from Latin America, South and East Asia, and Africa. He said the Global Marketplace should open in 2006.