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<br />Town Center: Nothing new to report. <br /> <br />Cobom's Center to Rebrand: Nothing new to report <br /> <br />Additional Parcels Identified for Acquisition: The City now owns the KIH site. Dave Perkins <br />Contracting has expressed interest in purchasing a portion of the property for its existing <br />business. See Case # 3 <br /> <br />Hwv 47/16ih Commercial Node: The Super Valu store and the US Postal Service are closing <br />on April 9, 2008 and it is for $999,999. In speaking with the owners it appears as ifthe overhead <br />costs for the property were too much to overcome with diminishing volumes of sales. Staff has <br />also been contacted by 5th Street Ventures (owners of property across the street from Super Valu) <br />and is looking for ideas to help that node. It is apparent that this comer is not succeeding. and <br />something needs to be done to revitalize this neighborhood commercial node. <br /> <br />Spring: Business Connection Meeting: The meeting was well attended (65 people) and the <br />feedback was generally good. There were a few comments relating to the political persuasion of <br />the speaker and the bias to the topics but his was not a theme that resonated overwhelmingly. <br />Although there was some slant to some of the issues I thought that the information provided was <br />helpful and it obviously generated some discussion. I also received a request for more <br />networking time and I would agree that the EDA should consider a different format to allow for <br />more networking between businesses and Staff. I did not receive a lot of nominations for the <br />Business of the year so we might want to find a better way to promote that in the future. <br /> <br />Cost of Doing Business: I have received the development fee information from all the Cities in <br />question and I am waiting for tax information for only 4 more cities. The major delay to this <br />point has been getting the energy information for the communities in question. This study <br />actually covers many different electric companies and the energy charges are an important factor <br />in the cost of doing business. Staff is working with Connexus Energy to put together an analysis <br />that will best represent energy costs for businesses in this study. I would be extremely surprised <br />if the study was not complete by the May EDA meeting. <br /> <br />Monument Signs: Staff is in the final stages of putting an implementation plan together for the <br />Monument Signs. Connexus will be providing the City with sollie calculations regarding <br />running the electricity to the proposed sites in our Industrial Parks. The City Council has also <br />looked into signage for entry points into the city. The Council consensus was to erect enhanced <br />MN dot signs similar to what Andover has done at key City entry points. The Andover signs <br />have incorporated a City logo into the green MN DOT signs we have grown to love. I think that <br />a June meeting that includes an implementation plan as well as some hard costs is probable. <br /> <br />Future Meeting Topics: <br /> <br />1. Monument Signs Implementation Plan <br />2. Cost of Doing Business (when info from other cities is received) <br />3. Housing type impact on economic development (June) <br /> <br />52 <br />