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NOTES TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION AGENDA June 15, 2010 IV. Northwest Quadrant Report Housing Tour Staff has made arrangements for a tour of housing projects on Monday, June 2155. The tour will include stops at two senior developments (Applewood Pointe of New Brighton developed by United Properties and The Villages of North Branch developed by Ecumen) and one market - rate apartment project (Shepherd Drive in St. Paul developed Stuart Companies). The tour will begin at city hall at 8:45 a.m. and return around 3:00 p.m. that afternoon. We plan to have lunch on the bus. The tour has been arranged to provide the City Council, EDC and staff with an opportunity to see what senior housing (with and without services) looks like in today's marketplace. In addition, Stuart Companies has expressed interest in doing an apartment project in the Northwest Quadrant. While their project in St. Paul is older, the company believes it demonstrates their long-term commitment to owning and managing rental property. If you're interested in attending, please contact staff ASAP so that we can plan accordingly. Developer Discussions Staff has continued to talk with housing developers about development opportunities in the Northwest Quadrant. So far of the five developers we have talked to (Dominium, TOLD, Dunbar Development, United Properties and Stuart Companies), two have expressed the most interest (Dunbar Development and Stuart Companies). Staff is still collecting the information and will provide a more detailed report and analysis in the coming weeks. Hopefully, by the July EDC meeting we should have more to share with the group. Marketing Efforts Staff has been researching potential marketing concepts for the Northwest Quadrant, including hiring a broker and/or developing a relationship with a commercial developer to help market the commercial sites. The bottom line is that the City needs to be plugged into the commercial market to maintain connections with developers and end-users, especially for office development. There are pros and cons to each approach and the possibility of a hybrid arrangement that would incorporate both concepts. This is an idea that needs more research and discussion among policymakers in the coming months. Rebranding The City has received a total of more than 30 entries from the public for the NWQ Naming Contest. The deadline for submission is June 15'" at 4:30 p.m. Staff will provide the full list of entries at the July EDC meeting.