Whether he was Director of Planning and Development for the city of St. Paul or Senior Vice President of the St. Paul Port Authority, Ken Johnson has been a pillar in the world of municipal community and economic development.

As Senior Vice President of the St. Paul Port Authority, Johnson, and his team of 20 are responsible for all facets of Port Authority business. The Port Authority has been around since 1932 and is responsible for the city’s harbors and the $12 million worth of commodities, like corn and wheat, that leave the Port of St. Paul. Not your average port authority, it is a non-unionized organization that can appear much like a quasi-development company in that it partners with private lenders to offer financing to buyers under one loan. Furthermore, the agency’s entire operating budget is funded by fees, not taxes. To that end, the Port Authority can do what the private sector can’t afford to do. The hook is that it is not looking to make a profit, but rather it wants to return sites to productive uses so that the land is eligible for development.

Brownfield development accounts for 60 to 75 percent of the port authority’s business. Since Johnson joined the agency in 1991, ten of the inner city’s 19 business centers have been redeveloped. The Port Authority acquires a property that’s polluted, compiles a remediation plan (with a pollution control agency) and puts together a financing plan, while simultaneously remediating and marketing the site so that by the time the land has been cleaned up, it can be sold. According to Johnson, it is about a three-year process, from redevelopment to completion, for these development projects. He says that continuing to put together a budget for remediation has proven to be one of his biggest challenges. He says that the Port Authority is very fortunate to be a beneficiary of the U.S. EPA’s revolving loan fund.

Ken Johnson has been in the industry long enough to see some of the biggest changes taking place in the areas of government funding (both state and federal). He recalls that years ago, no one would touch polluted land because of the legal liability associated with it, the cost involved in cleaning it up, and the non-existence of government funding. While obtaining government funding can still be a challenge, at least now developers and individuals are more aware of the funding requirements and how to deal with them.

Under Johnson’s direction, the agency has expanded its capabilities to offer customized workforce training by recruiting individuals and designing programs to train them in areas such as tool-and-dye operations. The Port Authority partners with St. Paul Technical College and other local institutions to find individuals for these particular programs. While Johnson lauds the program expansion that he has seen over the years, he is most proud of the fact that since he has been with the St. Paul Port Authority he has put over 15,000 new jobs into the economy.

In his previous life, Johnson became so involved in the affordable housing development arena that he went on to become one of the founding members of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHF), started in 1982. Originally launched in 12 cities around the country, the organization can now be found in over 160 cities. NALHF works with Congress and helps to develop cutting-edge education focused around affordable housing.

Now, after nearly 40 years in the redevelopment world, Ken Johnson will be retiring. He looks forward to doing some volunteer work and absolutely no consulting.