Richard Copeland grew up in the Sumner Field housing project \u2013 child of a single mother \u2013 near Penn and Plymouth Avenues in North Minneapolis; and by his own admission, he hasn\u2019t gotten that far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When saying he hasn\u2019t gotten that far, he\u2019s speaking in geographic terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founder and chairman of Thor Companies, Copeland lives not far from where he grew up. And with the Sept. 14 grand opening of Thor Companies\u2019 headquarters and Regional Acceleration Center, 1256 Penn Ave. N., he now also works not far from his childhood home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI live about 100 yards from where I grew up,\u201d said Copeland, telling the rooftop audience at Thor how it was his dream to bring his company \u201chome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copeland said it was his dream, but it was Thor CEO Ravi Norman\u2019s vision that made it a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is his brainchild,\u201d said Copeland. \u201cI provided the platform, but Ravi brought the vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vision is a five story, 92,000 square foot, $36 million building with a 625-stall parking ramp. The Regional Acceleration Center houses offices for Thor, Target Corporation, Hennepin County\/NorthPoint Health & Wellness, Metropolitan Economic Development Corporation (Meda), Build Wealth Minnesota, ME & I Fitness and Sammy\u2019s Avenue Eatery. The fourth-floor rooftop deck has an unobstructed view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In coming \u201chome\u201d to Penn and Plymouth, Thor brings the 11th<\/sup> most profitable Black company in the nation to North Minneapolis. Including the tenants of the Regional Acceleration Center, five Black CEOs conduct their daily business in the new Northside structure that is the anchor of development taking place at Penn and Plymouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat Richard Copeland and Ravi Norman have shown here is North Minneapolis is jam packed with opportunity,\u201d said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy moving your business from Fridley to North Minneapolis to provide jobs for the people of this community and hope for this community (Thor is) not only talking the talk, you are walking the walk,\u201d said Gov. Mark Dayton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once economically depressed, now there is an optimism not seen before in the corridor that is home to Thor, divisions of Target, Hennepin County, Meda and more. Rep. Keith Ellison (5th<\/sup> Dist.) said the once bleak economic outlook for North Minneapolis was by design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe truth is back in 1935 (when the city\u2019s Planning Area Designation map was released with North Minneapolis designated \u201cNegro Slum\u201d) something like this wasn\u2019t in the plans. That\u2019s just the truth,\u201d said Ellison. \u201cThis building offers promise that we can turn things around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norman said it is time to reimagine North Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImagine North Minneapolis as a robust economy with thriving businesses. Imagine North Minneapolis as a safe and fun environment. Imagine North Minneapolis as an abundant source of talent with premier schools and a place to get quality healthcare. Imagine North Minneapolis as a zone of opportunity,\u201d said Norman. \u201cThis vision is a reality right here and right now.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Richard Copeland grew up in the Sumner Field housing project \u2013 child of a single mother \u2013 near Penn and Plymouth Avenues in North Minneapolis; and by his own admission, he hasn\u2019t gotten that far. When saying he hasn\u2019t gotten that far, he\u2019s speaking in geographic terms. Founder and chairman of Thor Companies, Copeland lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4227,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4225\/revisions\/4227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}