Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

St. Paul lost two employers this week that most residents assumed would outlast us all. Northern Iron, 120 years on the East Side, announced the closing of its Payne-Phalen foundry by year's end, laying off around 86 workers. The same day, Pearson's Candy - maker of the Salted Nut Roll since 1909 - told the state it's shutting its West 7th plant in September, cutting 80 more jobs.
 
My thinking: it's easy to read these as twin tragedies and stop there. That’s not the story, and neither one ends where the headline does.
 
Northern Iron's closure follows years of litigation with the MPCA over emissions and a community that organized hard against it. That's a case where regulatory pressure, agency over-reach, and ongoing legal battles forced the hand of the operator. Pearson's is different: a private-equity-owned business that changed hands three times since 2011 and finally ran out of runway. Two closures, two very different causes, one shared result - vacant industrial parcels in a city that needs to think carefully about what comes next.
 
That's the part I want to focus on. Closings aren't just losses. They're opportunities. Both sites sit on land the city can't afford to let slip into non-industrial use just because it's easier to rezone than to redevelop. History shows that business closures are often the beginning of a new chapter, not simply the end of the story. Vacant plants can become homes for new manufacturers, advanced production, logistics, food processing, or other industrial users that build on existing infrastructure. Today's closure can become tomorrow's ribbon cutting - if we preserve the opportunity.
 
That opportunity depends on discipline. As redevelopment conversations begin, these industrial-zoned properties should remain part of the city's long-term industrial portfolio. Protecting those sites preserves future employment opportunities, strengthens the tax base, and reinforces the city's fiscal health for decades to come.
 
Mayor Her has made clear that Saint Paul is open for business. Keeping industrial land available for the next generation of employers is one of the most practical ways to turn that vision into reality. Sometimes economic progress doesn't begin with new construction—it begins by ensuring the right land is available when the next opportunity comes calling.
 
Change is coming to the East Side and West 7th either way. The question is whether we treat it like an ending or a beginning.
 
See you in the trenches, B

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