Cub Foods is here for YOU

By Sue Sterling

Customer Service

The value of shopping at Cub Foods is not just the quality of the food, but the quality of service. At Cub Foods each team member puts a lot of effort into making sure customers have a great experience in their store. From 6 in the morning until 10 p.m. each night, they work to give you a clean, safe and friendly environment. If you can’t find something you’re looking for, just ask any white-shirt employee to help you find it for you, or ask at the service desk. They’ll be glad to help.

Cub Motto

MY CUB, MY WAY is our motto. We are here for YOU. We have provided 39 years of service in the lakes area with great customer service, fresh produce, custom-cut meats and the best deli, bakery, and floral services available locally.

Whether you live in Baxter or Brainerd, there is a store convenient to you. You will find us in East Brainerd near Highway 210 and Eighth Street, and in Baxter on Highway 371 and Excelsior Road.

expected to retire to lake places and make them their permanent home. Baby boomer retirement is expected to peak this year with the greatest surge of Americans turning 65, the Alliance for Lifetime Income reported.

While there were previous demographic projections for the Brainerd lakes area to grow considerably, some of those predictions were slowed by the Great Recession and the housing bubble mortgage crisis of 2008.

This recent growth and the predictions for the future are different than the past, Close said.

“I’ve been doing this since 2002, so 22 years, and I’ve never and my dad, who’s lived here all his life, we’ve never seen — and we can’t like grab actual necessarily statistical data and everything — but just from the pulse and what you hear and what we see on the street, has been the most momentum we’ve seen. It’s pretty impressive. And we’re hearing it from other outsiders, other developers that are very bullish on this area.”

There are challenges ahead with years of highway and road construction in the near future as Highway 210 is reconstructed or repaved and the overpass is built on Highway 371.

“That’s going to change the landscape, it is,” Grotzke said. “And it’s not set in stone to our understanding, it’s not set in stone exactly how it’s going to look.”

Another challenge continues to be affordable housing.

“Many communities are offering incentives for housing development to happen within their community, because a lot of other communities are facing the same thing that we are here in the Brainerd lakes area,” Grotzke said.

Larger housing developers look at Minnesota and try to figure out the communities where it makes the most financial sense to build, Grotzke said, and are finding more options elsewhere.

While those housing developers are saying they’d like to build 30-40-50 house developments, they find the cost of infrastructure is too high, Grotzke said. He pointed to a recent 30-house developer who said they just couldn’t make the numbers work after looking at costs for roads and other infrastructure.

Costs come in sewer and water availability charges and for apartment buildings, they can pose a real barrier, Close said, as the commonly called SAC and WAC fees are one-time costs charged for each unit. The money goes to the cities to help them pay for wastewater and water treatment pipes and plants and maintain those systems.

In Brainerd, the SAC fees are $1,400 and WAC fees are $1,300 or $3,300 per single home or per unit in a multi-family structure. In Baxter, WAC fees are $2,800 for new residential construction and SAC charges are $3,000, for a combined $5,800.

“Right now, there aren’t as many financial packages offered to developers, as in other communities, so the developers that are developing here, while there are some benefits to it, or financial benefits or assistance from the community, there’s a lot of other communities that are pushing out a lot more money than what we are to get these developers,” Grotzke said. “... I’ve worked with some developers recently that just said the numbers don’t make sense.”

There are projects under development that will be able to make a dent in housing needs, including the redevelopment of the former Thrifty White location into a 78-unit apartment complex in downtown Brainerd. Dubbed Eight05 Laurel, the new four-story building will include 12 studio apartments; 28 one-bedroom units; nine one-bedroom apartments with a den; 15 two-bedroom, one-bathroom units; and 14 two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments. Per Americans with Disabilities Act standards, there will be one handicapped accessible unit. The main level will house five rental reinvigorate an empty building in downtown Brainerd and bring residents within walking distance of retail, restaurants, and groceries.

Properties, said at a Baxter City Council meeting in 2022. “We have nothing available ever. So we decided (Baxter would) be a great spot to build.” spaces, along with an office, community room with kitchenette, work spaces and unisex bathrooms.

There will be 65 underground heated parking stalls, 26 surface stalls, an elevator and secure entry to the building. The city of Brainerd waived the SAC and WAC fees, which amounted to $257,400, for the apartment project.

“That’ll be a great one,” Grotzke said of the Brainerd redevelopment project for housing. The project will

In Baxter, Campbell Properties’ Pinehurst Apartments set up a five-year plan in 2022 to construct five 50-plus unit apartment buildings off Cypress Drive and Douglas Fir Drive. All told the development is constructing 289 residential units when the project is completed in 2026.

“Our vacancy rate, it’s been zero percent for five years,” David Campbell, a representative from Campbell

If more builders find they can fill a niche for housing that sells quickly, the lakes area may see more patio homes or garden homes. Garden homes offer a private front and backyard providing room for landscaping, greenspace or gardening but still on a small lot with a smaller more easily maintained single-family home and main-level master suite

Garden homes provide an option to downsize or embrace a starter home with enough square footage to be comfortable while retaining a smaller footprint and private outdoor space that retains greenery. In some cases a garden home, which typically includes a second floor room for guests or a young family, can share one wall with a neighbor’s home. As homes that are designed to fit into the environment, garden homes may be something that work well in the lakes area and fill an existing demand.

Minnesota State Demographic Center projections

May 2024

Natural change from births and deaths is expected to decline over the years, turning negative by 2065, indicating that deaths will outnumber births.

Net mig ration will contribute positively to population growth, though the numbers are relatively modest compared to the overall population.

Minnesota’s population in the 65+ age group will more than double from 2024 to 2075.

• The population in younger age groups (0-19 years) shows a relatively stable but slowly declining trend.

Black and Indigenous communities and other communities of Color are projected to grow at a faster rate than the White population. By 2075:

• The White population is expected to decrease from around 4.45 million in 2024 to about 3.98 million.

The Black population will increase from 440,627 in 2024 to 785,638.

• The Asian population will rise from 323,309 in 2024 to 498,668.

The American Indian and Alaska Native population will see modest growth from 60,949 in 2024 to 65,522.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population will grow from 3,571 in 2024 to 7,179.

About the data: projections rely heavily on assumptions about future demographic behaviors based on historical trends.

Crow Wing County Census data

By the numbers

$66,568 — median household income, compared to the state median of $82,338.

• 66,123 — total population with 61,586 white, 2,712 with two or more races, 912 Hispanic or Latino, 663 American Indian/Alaska Native, 332 Asian, 392 some other race, 419 Black or African American, 19 Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

• 41,568 — number of housing units in the county. 28,475 — total households

• 2,227 — number of employers.

• $861 — median g ross rent compared to $1,200 in the state. 81.2% — percent of homeownership 73.7% — school enrolled population in kindergarten to 12th grade.

• 64.5% — percentage of workers employed at a private company.

45.6 — median age. The median age in Minnesota is 39. 32.6% — have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 39.1% in the state.

• 25.1 minutes — average travel time to work. State average was 22.8 minutes. And 75% of workers aged 16 and older drive to work alone.

• 24.6% — population percentage age 65 and older. In Minnesota, the population 65 and older is 17.4% 11.3% — population living in poverty, compared to a state total of 9.6%.

• 8.3% — percentage of population who are veterans, compared to 6% in the state. 36.3% of ancestry is German, followed by 15.2% Norwegian, 11.2% Irish, 7.2% English, 5.9% Polish, 4.6% French, 2.4% Italian, 1.6% Scottish, 0.1% Subsaharan Africa.

Note: Data from U.S. Census 2020 and 2022 American Community Survey oneyear estimates.

RENEE RICHARDSON, managing editor, may be reached at 218-855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch. com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter. com/DispatchBizBuzz.

“They started renting by the weekend or just whoever drove in. It wasn’t really a reservation, people just sort of found it,” she said.

In 1969, shortly after Roger and Nancy took over managing Boyd Lodge, the resort saw the construction of its first pool.

Later, in 1983, Boyd Lodge went through its first major expansion with the building of its townhome cabins on the west end of Rush Lake.

Most recently, in 2014, Boyd Lodge saw the completion of its seven cottages just north of its loft cabins.

Traditions

Boyd Lodge began as a place for family traditions and activities, and over the years, the resort has managed to keep those a part of its focus.

“The whole thing is just that it brings families and guests together. They get to know each other, and it really is like a big family. I was just talking to someone the other day, and they were like, ‘Who are the people in the cabin next to us? Because our kids are like best friends with them already.’ That’s the stuff that hasn’t changed in 90 years,” Mike said.

“People end up spending time together or meeting new people, and then they want to come back together. So there’s a lot of bonding that goes on here,” Roger said.

Ongoing activities that became much-anticipated parts of a Boyd Lodge visit include popcorn and movie nights, Monday morning doughnuts, picnics, bonfires, tie-dye T-shirts, turtle races and Boyd-o (a Boyd Lodge variation of bingo).

While Boyd Lodge has a wide variety of traditions it keeps alive, the resort itself has become a tradition for

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People end up spending time together or meeting new people, and then they want to come back together. So there’s a lot of bonding that goes on here.

Roger Schwieters

Boyd Lodge CONTINUED FROM H30 many families that kept coming back over multiple generations.

“Especially in the summertime, it’s almost all families, multigenerational. Lots of grandparents. It truly is families coming back year after year,” Mike said.

The draw of Boyd Lodge

Visitors to the lakes area have no shortage of options when it comes to looking for a place to stay. But Boyd Lodge, the Schwieters said, is more than that, and it’s that personal experience that keeps guests coming back.

“If you’re going to do it right, you’ve got to be there. You get to know your guests. You know who they are, you know their families and they really become like family honestly,” Mike said. “Another part of that is you have to listen to what your guests are looking for. And how you do that is by being there.”

Among Boyd Lodge’s many amenities are two pools, both with spa buildings, docks on Lower Whitefish and Rush Lakes with boat access, a pristine swimming beach with fire pits, and seven cottages and 17 loft cabins that include wood-burning fireplaces. There are also trails throughout the property, allowing visitors the chance to take in nature off the water.

Growing up at the resort, Mike said he sometimes takes for granted the fact that not everyone gets to spend time in such a stunning natural environment.

“Even just hearing the call of a loon. Sometimes we forget the significance of those to our guests. It’s neat that we have an opportunity for them to experience that,” Mike said.

The resort has pontoons and fishing boats to rent to guests, as well as canoes, kayaks, row boats, paddle boats

Boyd Lodge: H32