Business & Tech

ResourceWest to Move to Wells Fargo Building

ResourceWest to Move to Wells Fargo Building

ResourceWest will move from its Mainstreet location to the new Hennepin County social service hub in the Wells Fargo building in January, Executive Director Judy Elling said.  

Hennepin County's Human Services and Public Health Department is setting up a one-stop-shopping center in the building in order to bring the full spectrum of services out to communities, particularly communities with the greatest concentrations of people using the services.  

ResourceWest’s move there will add to the convenience. Elling said people sometimes have to take the day off of work because of all the running around they have to do.  

ResourceWest and the county will share waiting rooms and office space—but not the spaces where they meet with clients. The goal is to allow county staff to better communicate with ResourceWest about the needs of each client. It will also speed the process of connecting clients with community resources outside the county system, such as food shelves. Elling expects a 20 percent increase in drop-in visits by being in the center and by the center’s location being closer to clients.  

Despite the cooperation, ResourceWest is emphasizing that it is not merging with the county.  

Hennepin County plans to move into the Wells Fargo building in November or December. ResourceWest will set up shop there in January.

The social services hub will be the county’s third in the metro. Initially, Hopkins officials worried that such a hub could stretch local police and be a bad fit for the downtown. After further research, though, they came around to the idea.   The hub will also keep the Wells Fargo building from becoming overrun with vacancies. The bank once occupied 40,000 square feet of the building. It’s now down to 13,000 square feet and will drop to 3,500 square feet in the summer.  

Elling said it could be a boon for the community by bringing a couple hundred jobs to the downtown.

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Editor James Sanna provided reporting for this story.


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