Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDA MIN 04-01-08 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (EDA) SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES April 1, 2008 CALL TO ORDERIROLL CALL President, Gary L, Peterson called the meeting to order at 6:01 p,m, Present: Gary L, Peterson, Bobby Williams, Bruce Nawrocki, Tammera Diehm, Marlaine Szurek, and Bruce Kelzenberg New Commissioner to be sworn in: Gerry Herringer PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Oath of Office President, Gary L. Peterson stated the City Council appointed Gerry Herringer to the Commission. Gerry will be finishing out Patricia Jindra's term, which ends January 1, 2012, Peterson preformed the Oath of Office for Herringer, Development Aareement for 3th & Central Randy Schumacher introduced the developer Chris Little and Richard Little who are the proposed owners of the project, and who we have a Preliminary Development Agreement with. They are proposing to build a commercial development building approximately 10,000 square feet on the site. Schumacher then proceeded to give the board a little history of the site, In 2002 the EDA designated 3ih & Central as redevelopment site. The City acquired two single- family, non-conforming homes and the Beecroft building, The developer has a purchase agreement with the owner of the Chutney Restaurant on the corner of 3ih, There are two primary difficulties with this site, They are: 1) the depth of the lots are only 109 feet, which makes it difficult to put enough square footage on the property to make it work and 2) the City no longer has eminent domain, so therefore, it is up to the developer to negotiate a price for the property. In this case that price is in excess of $50 a square foot. Staff has been working with the Little's since last August on this project. We were $550,000 apart, as far as making this work. You can only get so much for rent on a square footage basis. With this agreement the Little's are asking for assistance of: 1) $75,000 from Anoka County CDBG for a land write-down. The City approved the EDA to make application for that grant in the amount of $300, 000 and received $75,000; 2) $100,000 from the Anoka County Economic Development Authority Levy; 3) $30,000 in state aid for a turn lane because the access point will be to the north versus were it is located today; 4) up to $30,000 in surplus of Anoka County Community Development Block (CDBG) Grant money, which we used a portion ofthat to demolish the Beecroft building and the $30,000 left of the grant will be used for the Chutney restaurant; and 5) in order to recover our land cost of $8 per foot or $43,600 for the Beecroft property, we are asking that the developer, at the time of sale or refinancing of the project, to pay the City in full the $43,600, in not to exceed ten years. Chris Little, 3ih & Central LLC, thanked everyone for taking time to listen to their proposal, He asked Richard Little to speak on some of the projects they have been involved in. Richard Little stated they started out in Maple Grove with a 17,000 square foot strip center in front of a larger shopping center, Then they did a 30-acre development, just to the east of that, which contains an 88,000 square foot Cub Foods, and 8 retail out Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes April J, 2008 Page 2 of 4 lots, including users like KFC, Midas, Pizza Hut, Kinder Care, Hyland Bank and Ace Hardware. The next project was a 20,000 square foot building in front of CUB Foods containing Blockbuster, Star Liquor, and AT & T Wireless. Then they did a 20,000 square foot project south of that, which contains Caribou Coffee, Kinko's, Broadway Pizza, Vision World, and Verizon Wireless. They did a 7,000 square foot, Pet Hospital, and a 4.5-acre project with an Applebee's and Fuddruckers. Chris passed out a copy of his draft site plans and stated he needs them back, as they are not the finals. The final plans will be going before the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council soon. The building is going to be approximately 9,800 square feet of retail space, with 3 to 6 tenants. The parking is going to change slightly as they originally were going to propose two buildings, and now it is only going to be one. They have been working with MNDOT to obtain access from Central Avenue, and they have received approval. This approval is contingent upon a couple of modifications: 1) the 100 foot turn lane on Central; and 2) shifting the access as far away from Central as possible. They said they have done a lot of research in this area and have been talking to a lot of different tenants. Diehm asked if they were comfortable in telling the board who those possible tenants are. Chris stated there is Bear Creek Coffee, a dry cleaner, a couple of hair cut places, Kinkos, Subway, Altell, AT & T and Sprint. They are potentially looking for tenants that would complement the City. Diehm asked if the coffee shop would be a drive through. Chris stated they have looked into two different scenarios. Part of the challenge with a drive through is that we would have to get rid of the patio and would be short on parking. Therefore, at this time it is possible, but not definite. Nawrocki asked how many public dollars are invested in the land and what the total square footage of the development site would be. Schumacher stated from the two single-family homes $159,000 of CDBG money was used. The Beecroft building was $248,000, which we will be getting $43,000 for land back from the developer and the balance would be taken from fund 420, which is a redevelopment fund. The cost to demolish the buildings was $23,600 for Beecroft and the two single-family homes were $18,575. Chris stated the square footage is . 65-acres, or 28, 106 square feet, which includes the restaurant and the City properties. Nawrocki asked what the taxes would be if the property was developed as proposed and asked if staff has checked into this. Chris stated the taxes would be around$5.75 per square foot, which is a little high, but would be passed through to the tenants. Schumacher stated staff does not have the projected taxes in hand, but will provide this information to the Commissioner if desired.. Nawrocki asked if they own the other properties they developed and if the property owners surrounding it have been notified of these meetings. Richard stated they hold onto properties for several years before they sell them. Szurek stated the residents have been notified of the meetings for P & Z and that the agenda for tonight's P & Z meeting has the Comprehensive Plan approval on it for this project. Clark clarified that Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes April I, 2008 Page 3 of 4 the Planning and Zoning Commission action is a technical item related to State Statute regarding redevelopment activities. The Commission must find that the proposed use, in this case retail, meets the City's Comprehensive Plan. Clark also noted that the formal plan would go through a hearing notice in either Mayor June. Diehm stated, we need to understand that we are only approving the Development Agreement plan. The actual site plan would have to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council for approval. Peterson stated we are at step one of the redevelopment of this site, they aren't going to put money into this if the City isn't going to approve the agreement. Diehm stated we have found it is very beneficial to have meetings with residents to get their feedback, and wanted to know if the Little's would be doing this for this redevelopment project. Richard Little stated they have had meetings with residents in the past and are planning on having them with Columbia Heights residents. Clark stated if you look at section 3.2, which is the conditions of the conveyance, it states very clearly that the authorities obligations convey the City's parcels to the developer subject to various conditions. One of these items is that the City must approve and grant all required land use and plan approvals. Nawrocki stated it looks like we are giving it away. The county has it on the tax roll for $179,000 and we are giving it away for $43,600. What is the sale price for the property on the corner. Fehst stated you need to keep in mind that we have had a hard time getting someone to even look at redeveloping this property. Chris stated the Chutney property price is $570,000. Herringer asked what the status of the property is and what will be their mortgage finance rate. Chris stated they do not own it at this time. Little stated they have a purchase agreement with Golden Holding and are looking at a mortgage rate of approximately 7%. Peterson asked the residents in attendance if they had any questions. Residents Wendy Howell, 3711 Van Buren, stated she is here to listen to what they are proposing, is are very excited, has been waiting and wondering and was glad to see that something is going in there. Resident, Bill Johanneck, 3713 Van Buren, stated there is alley problems; 1) the speed of the alley; 2) it is the cut through to get to 39th; and 3) he gets a lot of traffic by his house. Resident, Jim King, 3717 Van Buren, stated he is excited to see the new developments popping up around the City and is interested to see what will be going into the 3ih & Central corner. Peterson stated if any of them have questions, please feel free to contact any of the board members or staff and we will try to answer questions. Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes April 1,2008 Page 4 of 4 Motion by Diehm, second by Szurek, to Adopt Resolution 2008-03, a Resolution Approving a Contract for Private Redevelopment between the Columbia Heights Economic Development Authority, the City of Columbia Heights and 3yth and Central LLC; and furthermore, to authorize the President and Executive Director to enter into an agreement for the same. Upon Vote- Szurek-aye, Nawrocki- abstain, because he did not feel he had enough information on the project, Peterson-aye, Williams-aye, Diehm-aye, Herringer-aye, Kelzenberg-aye. Motion Carried. Herringer stated he would have liked to have seen more information presented on the project. ADJOURNMENT President, Peterson, adjourned the meeting at 6:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, f1~/ ~ ch~yr13'akken Community Development Secretary H :\EDAminutes2008\4-1-2008