The new Dick's House of Sport at Southtown Shopping Center is going ahead without a city subsidy. Port Authority staff told commissioners in a development roundup that the Southtown redevelopment will proceed without tax increment financing.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff reported Seagate is weighing a second Bloomington expansion competing against two other locations, with a state incentive package and a Minnesota Investment Fund application before council.07/21
Here's the tradeoff. The city's prevailing-wage ordinance passed on June 17, 2024, and took effect June 27, 2024. It requires area-standard wages on any construction project estimated at more than $175,000 that uses "City Funds." The city defines that term broadly: grants, loans, tax increment financing, tax abatements, tax credits, bond revenue and "any other financial assistance." The rule covers the city, its Housing and Redevelopment Authority and the Port Authority. A developer that takes TIF also takes on the wage requirement.
Developer Kraus-Anderson's plans call for a 2-story, 120,000-square-foot Dick's House of Sport with an attached 18,000-square-foot outdoor field. The city's Planning Commission and City Council approved the plans in September 2024. An additional phase would add a medical office building.
Staff also told commissioners that Seagate Technology is weighing a second Bloomington expansion against 2 other locations. The city's pitch to keep it here includes a state incentive package and an application to the Minnesota Investment Fund.
In June, the Planning Commission reviewed a 2-story, roughly 64,500-square-foot addition to the company's campus at 7850 Nord Ave. S. and 7801 Computer Ave. S. The addition adds wafer production space.
On July 20, the City Council held a public hearing and approved a resolution backing Seagate's application for a $5 million zero-interest state loan through the Minnesota Investment Fund. The loan would help pay for the wafer fabrication expansion, which Seagate says it needs to meet data-storage demand from AI workloads. Nobody from the public spoke at the hearing.
Staff also mentioned new apartment projects moving through the pipeline elsewhere in the city. If Seagate takes the new expansion elsewhere, Bloomington will find out when the company announces where it's going.
From the meeting: Port Authority Meeting, July 21, 2026.
