Auburn economic development highlights internships, small-business spotlights and a major warehouse investment

Auburn’s communications podcast Episode 71 turned to local economic development work when hosts Jonathan Glover and Angie Caprillstein welcomed intern Jillian Orme and economic development program administrator Emerson Folker to the microphone.

Jillian Orme described her summer internship experience and the tasks she has taken on: "I have learned a lot about local government, the processes, the steps that things have to go through," she said. She told hosts she has been assisting with research and code work, including work on the city’s housekeeping code and review of changes to the multifamily tax exemption to see how state updates might be implemented locally.

Emerson Folker outlined how the economic development team works with real estate brokers and prospective tenants to recruit businesses to downtown Auburn, explaining the department tracks square footage, adjacencies and traffic patterns to make a site attractive to the types of businesses the city seeks. "We can go after and seek these awesome businesses to come down and try to fill the spaces before they get filled with something that wouldn't be as fun or as entertaining," Folker said.

The episode also spotlighted several local businesses featured in the city’s small-business videos. Hosts discussed a recent small-business video about Minhaj, a family-run restaurant that the team said performed well on social channels. They also mentioned a profile of Return Home (a human-composting business) and highlighted local manufacturers, including Tim's Cascade chips (manufactured in Algona) and a company that makes donut-production machinery—examples used to illustrate the breadth of the local economy.

Folker discussed a significant private investment in Auburn: on the podcast he said Home Depot had made a major company investment building a large warehouse near the train tracks. "Home Depot made their biggest investment company wide ever here in Auburn. They're building a massive warehouse where, to my knowledge, they'll be shipping out pretty much everything you need to build a home," Folker said, adding that the project relies on a railway spur and is expected to create substantial jobs.

The podcast did not provide formal job counts, budget appropriations or permits for the project on the recording; Folker said the site will be active soon and that the city will share more details through the mayor’s state-of-the-city materials and future communications. No formal council action or vote on incentives, zoning or permits was discussed in the episode.

Next steps: the economic development team will continue recruiting businesses, producing small-business spotlights, and share further information about the warehouse development when city and private-sector partners release formal project details.