2018.03.07 EDC - Laserfiche WebLink

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A. Open to Business Gundlach stated Rob Smolund from Open to Business was in attendance to discuss the 2017 year-end report in detail and to answer any questions or concerns the Commission may have. In 2017, hours served is actually down from 2016 at 67 hours compared to 89 hours in 2016. She stated in 2017, Open to Business only charged the City half of the contract price for services being the hours served decreased resulting in not as much time spent on New Brighton business. This is not an arrangement that is guaranteed in future years. City staff recommends remaining committed to this program as it offers a service to New Brighton businesses that City staff cannot otherwise provide. Open to Business is currently being marketed on the City’s website and through pamphlets at City Hall. In 2017, Open to Business was presented to the New Brighton Business Council of the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce and marketing materials were distributed in all utility bills. In 2018, staff intends to use Facebook to promote Open to Business in the days leading up to local office hours at City Hall. To realize greater use in 2018, staff is interested in hearing from the Commission on what marketing efforts should be considered. Rob Smolund, Open to Business, discussed the great work he completed with New Brighton businesses in 2017. He stated while the number of hours were slightly less, he believed the interactions were strong. It was his hope he would be able to release a client profile in the near future to assist with marketing the services provided by Open to Business. He encouraged the City to continue to market his services to the business community. Discussion included: • The benefits of having a county-wide Open to Business program. Staff shared that the hope would be to have Open to Business go county-wide sometime this summer. • The community development funding available from Open to Business was described. • Staff was directed to keep the marketing information for Open to Business well stocked at City Hall. • The EDC supported a letter being sent to the County encouraging them to support a county-wide contract with Open to Business. • The EDC requested another report from Open to Business mid-summer. B. Korean Church Redevelopment Update Gundlach stated during the City Council’s 2018 Teambuilding Retreat, redevelopment of the Korean Church property garnered a lot of discussion. Council and staff broke into small groups to brainstorm on what could happen on this property. The consensus was the property should be redeveloped with mixed income multi-family, multi-generational (senior) housing. Other topics included engagement with the neighborhood, traffic, and a desire to create a neighborhood identity. After a lot of thought on next steps, staff recommended to Council that informal developer meetings are held with the development community to see what kind of market interest materializes. The development community prefers these informal developer meetings to the RFP/RFQ process. Gundlach reported staff, with input from the City’s broker and public finance consultant, developed a list of 20 developers to reach out to and seek input from. These developers focus in the areas of market rate multi-family, affordable multi-family, senior, and single family and townhome development. Meetings are scheduled for February 12, 14, and 21. The purpose of the meetings is to introduce the site to the development community and learn what the market can absorb for this site in the immediate future. Following these meetings, staff is hopeful at least one developer will express serious interest in redeveloping the property and City staff can begin