Loan intended to help keep, create jobs

Talk about it

Last week the St. Croix County Board gave its endorsement for a state loan to keep a company in Baldwin, retaining 15 jobs and creating another 12 in two years.

The Wisconsin Community Development Block Grant program will make a $175,000 loan to Heebink Architectural Woodwork LLC.

St. Croix Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Bill Rubin explained that Aaron Carlson Corporation, which has a production facility in northeast Minneapolis, bought the Heebink business, but not its land and buildings, in September 2008.

Now Aaron Carlson is looking at buying the Baldwin production space, which it has been renting, and adding more equipment. Total cost of the project is $627,000.

An alternative would be to move all production to Minnesota, said Char Gurney of the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

She said loan payments will go to a regional revolving loan account to finance loans to other area businesses.

In other business during its Jan. 19 meeting, the County Board voted to apply to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for 2010 lake planning grants. These are the requests: