Remaking Rochester, Minnesota in the Mayo Clinic’s Image

Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester, Minnesota Shutterstock.com

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Preparing for an unprecedented expansion of local medical facilities, officials in Rochester, Minnesota, this week ensured that women and minorities would be among the workforce completing forthcoming public infrastructure improvements.

The larger project, Destination Medical Center, represents the hometown Mayo Clinic’s $6.5 billion, 20-year plan to attract the business of wealthy and international medical patients—backed by a public-private partnership including state and county government.

In return for keeping Rochester competitive with U.S. medical hubs like Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the Cleveland Clinic, as well as Asian megahospitals, this southeastern Minnesota city with roughly 111,000 residents expects as many as 47,200 new jobs and as much as $205 million in additional tax revenue.

Fast Company reports:

Because of changes to insurance structure and Medicare, the number of middle-class American patients from the Midwest getting treatment at Mayo is expected to go down over the next decade. Building the DMC, then, isn’t just about transforming a city: It’s also about securing a megahospital’s revenue stream in the face of huge industry changes.
In this country, the DMC project is a novelty—a Dubai-style grab at wholesale city engineering that hasn’t been seen stateside since the 1960s "urban renewal" wave. Blueprints are being made, politicians are cutting deals, and, if plans hold, a small city will double its population in just 20 years.

Luxury and mid-range hotels have already sprouted up near the planned DMC site and clinic’s secondary St. Mary’s campus, and foreign investors from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and India are buying buildings and land.

When the DMC is built, city streets in Rochester will be winterized with heated sidewalks, tunnels and skywalks. In addition to new biotech and pharmaceutical tenants, cultural facilities, new housing, restaurants and shops will be erected.

There are also discussions to create a high-speed rail link with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Twin Cities.

With more than $5.5 billion in investment from the private sector and $585 million from state and local government pledged—the plan has been criticized for building a utopia for the privileged on the backs of Rochester’s residents. The city’s sales tax was already raised in 2012, and proposed future increases have met resistance.

While public money will not go toward the Mayo Clinic’s new buildings or programs, it’s no wonder officials and clinic representatives are touting quality of life improvements when they can. In addition to more jobs and a bigger city, a portion of Rochester’s rising tax revenues will go to the local school district.

Six new neighborhoods covering 550 acres will complement the new megahospital many residents won’t be able to afford treatment at.

DMC recently touted a NerdWallet report naming Rochester the best mid-size city for women. The 2013 local unemployment rate for women was 3.7 percent—0.3 percent below male unemployment—and in no other midsize city was the percentage of women’s earnings spent on rent lower.

Rochester officials have now committed themselves to seeking infrastructure workforce employment of 4 percent minorities and 6 percent women and directing 4 percent of the cost of construction projects to targeted small and veteran-owned businesses, the Post Bulletin reported.

"We're just not going to be successful as a community if only those who were born with an entitlement are given the opportunity to succeed in this community,” Councilman Michael Wojcik told the newspaper after the vote. “It’s critically important to the future of everybody in Rochester.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.