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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDA MIN 01-24-06 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (EDA) REGULAR MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 24, 2006 CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Vice President, Jindra called the meeting to order at 8:43 p.m. Present: Patricia Jindra, Bobby Williams, Bruce Nawrocki, Tammera Ericson Diehm, Gary L. Peterson and Bruce Kelzenberg. Don Murzyn, Jr. arrived at 8:45pm and took over the meeting. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE OATH OF OFFICE Walt Fehst swore in Patricia Jindra, who was recommendedfor re-appointment at the City Council meeting of Janumy 23, 2006. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Motion by Ericson Diehm, second by Kelzenberg, to elect the same officers as last year, Murzyn, Jr. for President, Jindra for Vice President and Kelzenberg for Secretary/Treasurer. All ayes. Motion Carried. CONSENT AGENDA Approval of Minutes of November 22, 2005. Financial Report and Payment of Bills Resolution 2006-01, for the November/December tinancials and payment of bills. Motion by Ericson Diehm, second by Kelzenberg, to adopt the consent agenda items as listed. All ayes. Motion Carried. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION 39th & Central. Columbia Heie:hts Rental Streetar stated the City has determined the corner of39'h & Centralfor redevelopment. SofaI' stafJhas acquired the property were the former Burger King was located, pelformed Phase i environmental site assessments on all three properties, was awarded $47,059 to complete a Phase 2 environmental assessment on all three properties sometime in February, Tax increment Financing eligibility assessments on all three properties, which determined they were all blighted, the Mady's owners requested stafJto make an ofJer for their building and is undertaking appraisals and relocation estimates in order to prepare an acquisition ofJer, the City applied to Anoka County for $225,000 of CDBG funds to pay for demolition of the Mady's building should the EDA acquire the property, and City Council along with DSU have developed 4 preliminary redevelopment concepts as well as toured jive successful redevelopment projects in other cities. At this time staff is asking for direction to work with the owners of Columbia Heights Rental to determine if afriendly, negotiated sale, could be accomplished as well as obtaining the appraisals for the property. Nawrocki asked why we are tlying to take their property, maybe they don't want to sell. Streetar stated the owners of the property contacted stafJ stating they want to get started with the process. Williams stated before the owners of Central Rental didn't want to move, but now that we have purchased the Burger King property, they want to get involved with redeveloping their site. Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 2 of4 Peterson stated he talked to the owners, who said they know the redevelopment will happen, asked what the City is going to do, realize the City is moving forward with the development and that they want to work with the City to redevelop the site. Peterson also stated he was willing to go with Streetar to talk to the owners on a friendly basis, the city is in this for the long hall, we need to keep going, we have the staff and energy, we should do it. Nawrocki stated we don't own the property, we don't have the money, MI'. Pratt is still working on redeveloping the movie theater on 37'11 and that would take away from the idea of putting more housing on 39th Motion by Peterson, second by Williams, to authorize staff to meet with the owners of Columbia Heights Rental to determine if a friendly, negotiated sale could be accomplished, as well as obtain the necessary appraisals to prepare a future acquisition offer. Nawrocki stated this is premature and we don't have a plan for the property. Upon vote: Nawrocki-nay, Jindra-aye, Ericson Diehm -aye, Kelzenberg -aye, Williams -aye, Peterson -aye, Murzyn Jr. -aye. Motion Carried. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS 3ilt & Stinson Partenheimer stated Len Pratt of Pratt Homes has been negotiating the option of purchasing the Apache Theater for redevelopment from Jerry Herringer. MI'. Pratt is in the process of drawing up new concept plans for the development site. Staff will be meeting with MI'. Pratt on the 7'11 and will learn more about the development. Ericson Diehm stated she met a woman on a trip she had taken recently, who said she would highly recommend MI'. Pratt, and that this is exciting to here as we are looking forward to his development in the City. Heritage Heights Partenheimer stated they had a very informative meeting with 16 residents, some interested business owners and staff. The residents were very excited, gave some goodfeedback to staff The meeting included presentations ji'om Streetar on the histOlY of the neighborhood and the City's renewal efforts to date, Police Chief, Tom Johnson updated the positive outcome of the increase patrolling in the neighborhood and Jon Slack from DSU on demographic trends, market analysis, site and area valuations. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 8 at 7pm at the Grand Central Lofts Community Center and ajoint City Council, EDA and Planning Commission meeting will be scheduled for sometime in the weeks to follow. Nawrocki asked how many people were signed up for the committee. Streetar stated he believes there were 12. Ericson Diehm asked if they know of someone that is interested, could they be added to the committee. Partenheimer stated they could. Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 3 of4 49th & Central Schumacher stated stqIJ has been working with Dave Anderson for redevelopment of the site. The agreement expires next month. The board may have heard the unstable issue of Udupi 's, which was in the paper. Anderson is hoping this doesn't put a damper on the redevelopment of the block, he has been talking to the owners of the properties on that block, some are willing to sell and some haven't responded to his letters yet, but he is hoping to present something to the board next month. Sarna's Restaurant Schumacher stated the last couple of months the Sarna's have been putting together a plan for the site. When they got the soil tests back, it stated there is 17 ft of contamination on the building site, that would have to be removed, and would cost $126,350 for soil corrections, meaning the basement would be eliminated. StaJJwent over this amount with Wade Carlson from ProSource and determined this was a good estimate. What the Sarna's would like to see is to bring it to the City for approval to help pay for some of the soil correction costs, just like the City did for the Industrial Park and hopefully, in a couple of weeks be able to prepare a development agreement for approval. Nawrocki asked what is the cost we have invested in the land, what has been spent. Schumacher stated we have obtained the properties with block grant funds. If we sell the land to a developer, they dig, andjind contamination, it would be at their own additional costs. Peterson stated our appraiser did not include the soil contamination. Streetar stated the City lost money on the property that Gondek bought. StaJJ suggested a purchase price of approx. $145, 000, with no responses from the local paper, staJJ recommended advertising in the Minneapolis Star at a price of$155, 000, then Gondek came in with a bid of $136,000, the City Council decided to sell to him at a loss to the City. Fehst stated the reason we looked at the properties on that cornel', wasn't only for redevelopment, but that the homes and buildings were blighted. Michael Hurley, legal representative for the Sarna's, stated they have $50,000 already invested in the planning. Peterson stated the homes and gas station were blighted. We have a developer that is willing to build a restaurant, and that is great. Ericson Diehm agreed. Peterson asked Schumacher if there is any direction the board could give staJJtonight. Schumacher stated there isn't, and that staJJwill askfor direction at the time the development agreement is brought before the board, however, a consensus of the board would be nice to see if the board is in favor of the City helping with contamination costs. Peterson stated he would vote for it. Ericson Diehm stated she would also be in favor of helping pay for some of the costs, as it is a very valid request. Murzyn Jr. asked if the $126,350 is what they would be askingfor. Schumacher stated that was correct. Kelzenberg asked about the $60,000 from Anoka County, is that a done deal. Schumacher stated we are the only one that has made the request to use the funds, as they are unusedfunds that have been returned to the County. Streetar stated MI'. Kordiak has already talked to the county in support of this. Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 4 of 4 Williams stated Nawrocki keeps calling it a sports bar, are they building a sports bar. Hurley stated they are building a restaurant. Nawrocki stated the Star Bar started out as a restaurant and is now a sports bar. Hurley asked if Nawrocki considered Applebees or Redstone as a sports bar, which is the same type of restaurant they will build, they won't have white tablecloths, will have TV's, but won't be fine dining. Nawrocki stated he did not. Williams stated he has heard many times from residents that we need a nice restaurant in Columbia Heights. YMCA/Community Center Streetar stated the YMCA indicated they are undergoing a strategic planning process and market study to determine where they will buildfuture gyms. The study will be done the end of FebrualY. Staff will be meeting with the representatives of the YMCA after their study is complete. Williams stated he would like to encourage stajfto meet with the YMCA, and let them know we are serious about a Community Center/Gym in Columbia Heights. Other Business Nawrocki asked if someone is working with the Liquor store folks to find them a spot to build a new building. Schumacher stated he knew that the Anderson's have been talking to stajf about the possibility, but didn't know if any decisions have been made. Murzyn Jr. asked how is the liquor store business doing and stated that our stores are minimum stocked and was concerned how they are making it along with other liquor stores. Fehst stated they aren't doing that bad., and that they would like to build Nawrocki stated we have really good management at our liquor stores, and the main point he wanted to put across to the board is that we should be working as much with our people for development as we are with other developers. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Williams, second by Ericson Diehm to adjourn the meeting at 9:54pm. All ayes. Motion Carried. Respectfully submitted, &-:;/ ~ Cheryl Bakken Community Development Secretary H:\EDAminutes2006\EDA 1-24-2006