Carrie Kruse
Happy Friday! I want you all to meet Carrie Kruse, Des Moines Economic Development Administrator. Carrie’s role is an essential asset to small business owners as they navigate getting a brick and mortar store, or expanding their operation. There are so many things to think about and she continuously impresses me with her knowledge.
In a nutshell, her role in economic development aims to increase jobs through the city and increase tax base through development. Other items that Carrie can answer questions with: grant programs for facade improvements, neighborhood revitalization grant program, code upgrades and facade, tax abatement, connect people to right resources to improve the city.
One of the biggest challenges she sees with small business owners is financing (couldn’t agree more with this!). In her role, Carrie really tried to be a part of the solution and help mitigate the risks that small business owners commonly face.
One of her most rewarding projects that she has gotten to work on is Chuck’s Restaurant in Highland Park. Along with NDC and InvestDSM, they were able to work together to support this small business as it went through a transformative historic renovation of its main and upper floor. The upper story was vacant, so they worked through a business development and housing strategy which ensured the housing would remain affordable on the upper floor.
Even with historic tax credits and the partnerships with InvestDSM and NDC and what the project was were able to finance, Chuck’s still had a financing gap for the total project costs. The economic development team did a finance analysis, looking at what the building was generating in taxes and compared that to what the future post renovation taxes would be as a mechanism to structure a tax rebate incentive to help fill the financing gap.. They put an incentive package together so that the client could take the package to the bank. The City Council approved an incentive package utilizing tax increment financing which the property owner can then take that incentive agreement to the bank to help monetize additional funding for the building improvements. This project illustrates the creative ways the economic development department can be of assistance to small business owners!
When asked what resources or tools she could recommend for small business owners, Carrie lists the local chamber of commerce, local government economic development teams, SBA, Greater DSM Partnership, The Iowa Center and the Evelyn K Davis Center.
Advice for small business owners: “Come to Des Moines, we would love to support you and your business growth here. Reach out to your local economic development team. They will give you resources and advocate for you”. She also highly recommends working with a commercial broker before signing a lease. There are so many pitfalls and risks that can occur before you even officially get your business open. Hire the right professionals or connect with them to advise you before jumping in and signing a lease anywhere. Couldn’t agree more with this advice!
If you have questions for Carrie, reach her at cakruse@dmgov.org!