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Franklin Bank
Making "Sweet" on a Dangerous Neighborhood
"Franklin Bank's fingerprints are all over this corridor. They're cleaning up a part of Minneapolis that no one else was paying attention to." |
Franklin Street Bakery thought they would need to go to an industrial park to triple their space and grow their burgeoning business. Wanting to expand their wholesale bakery and create room for retail, co-owners Wayne Kostroski and Mark Haugen met with Franklin Bank to see if any solutions could be found to stay in Minneapolis.
Working with the Bakery owners, the City and the State, Franklin Bank devised a solution to keep the Bakery in the heart of the city. However, what they proposed raised a few eyebrows.
The Franklin Street area was in disrepair, even dangerous. Commerce was virtually nonexistent and worse yet, violence plagued the community. In fact, the proposed lot was once a convenience store boasting the highest incidence of emergency 911 calls. Yet the Bank had been working with the community and saw that it was on the cusp of historic change.
"Franklin Bank's fingerprints are all over this corridor," said Kostroski. "They're cleaning up a part of Minneapolis that no one else was paying attention to." Today, Franklin Street Bakery has helped turn the community around. Their state-of-the-art facility is a draw in the neighborhood. "Franklin Bank shared our vision for business growth that did not compromise our product. They have been a quality partner since day one."
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