Moorhead

as a transfer point,abetted in themodern era,by its proximity to twomajor highways–Interstate 94,which runs east/west,and Interstate 29,which runs north/ south through Fargo–and two airports. “We’re centrallyconnected,”affirms Lisa Bode,Moor- head’s Director of CommunityDevelopment.“We’re an amazing location for a logistics companyor a distribu- tion center for that very reason–easyaccess to several interstates.Andwe not onlyhave the Fargo airport, Moorhead has its ownmunicipal airport for general aviation,and our industrial park is on the rail line.So when you talkabout multi-modal facilities,nomatter howit’s coming in or going out,Moorhead is verywell situated.” “We’re blessed inMoorhead that we have a very diversified economy,”adds CindyGraffeo,Executive Director of the city’s EconomicDevelopmentAuthority. “Everything fromagriculture to higher education.We have aviation out at the airport; the health sector is very large in our area; we have a strongmanufacturing presence out in our industrial park.So,we’re getting a lot of growth froma lot of different sectors.” Moorhead is also a cityof attractive,welcoming neighborhoods.“It’s a diverse housing stock,”says Dan Mahli,Assistant CityManager.“There are great places where residents can age in place,the children are‘free- range,’and access to amenities and services is a short walkaway.”“We have standards that every resident should live nomore than half amile away froma park,” adds Bode.“So,whenwe lookat platting our subdivi- sions and putting developers toworkon that,we place a value on that public space and the qualityof life no matter where people live in the city.We’re investing in thewhole community.” Oneway inwhichMoorhead is investing in its neighborhoods is via a partnershipwith amajor finan- MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA POPULATION: GEOGRAPHIC AREA: MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: MEDIAN HOUSING VALUE: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: JOB GROWTH PERCENTAGE: COMMERCIAL TAX RATE: QUICK FACTS | MOORHEAD, MN 43,840 22.2 sq. miles $55,343 $177,000 2.6% 5.94% 1.6% cial institution in the area.“It’s called the Neighborhood Impact Program,”says Bode. “It’s a lending partnershipwith Gate City Bank.Theycame to us with an opportunity to develop a loan pool tomeet a commu- nityneed,andwe took that opportunity to develop a program targeting our existing neighborhoods.We targeted these very lowinterest loans to homes that were built before 1990.In one construction season, twomillion dollars went out the door in 57loans to local homeowners that ranged from$10,000 to $75,000.Theymade im- provements to their homes that preserve them for the peoplewho live there,as well as for the safetyand livabilityof the entire neighborhood.Themedian year of built homes that were improvedwas 1960,and the rangewas homes built between 1880 and 1989.We’re reallypleased at howthat DEL RAE WILLIAMS MAYOR Still primarily an agricul- tural area, today, Moor- head, with a population of approximately 43,000, is also home to manufac- turing and distributing industries, such as the giant sugar beet process- ing company, American Crystal Sugar. It also still serves as a transfer point, abetted in the modern era, by its proximity to two major highways and two airports.