Minutes - Council Work Session - 12/09/2008

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Ms. Ruehle stated that now that other communities are interested and property values are changing, she agrees that it will be a valuable tool to use. She stated that the other property that is interested is owned by Jim Deal from PSD. She stated that they are interested in selling the back portion. She stated that she thinks that Pro Sporting Goods would' want to lease back the parking area. She stated that they had a Letter of Intent with Crestview Senior Housing to basically swap properties. Councilmember Elvig stated that would do a few good things for the City, like get an active owner and also capture tax dollars. Ms. Ruehle agreed that taxes are an important issue to consider in all of these. She stated that the $815,000 amount was an appraisal that they had done on their own, which is at $11.00 'per, square foot. Councilmember Dehen asked if the price on these properties is coming down at all, in this economy. Ms. Ruehle stated that she doesn't get it, because logic would tell you that they shouldn't be going up, but the comparables do exist to justify the price coming in where they are. Mayor Gamec stated that he thinks it matters a bit on what time of year the property is appraised. Ms. Ruehle stated that as the Council considers priorities for 2009, they should be ,aware that she knows that Anoka has asked for $1.5 million for the Vineyard. She stated that she has heard from the Met Council that the City needs to get the ones it has off the books. Mayor Gamec stated that he thinks the Ica property would be a good one, especially jf something could be worked out with the Anoka Technical College. Councilmember Look stated that the $35 million in total County value seems to be considerably lower than the appraised value. He stated that the City would need 10 years of 100% of the Met Council money to get this done. He asked when the City anticipates some payback. Ms. Ruehle stated that the one project she knows about where there should be some coming back is the Highway 610 connection to 94 because most of the right of way acquisition has been completed. Councilmember Look asked if the purchase hinges on when the freeway project takes affect. He asked if the State could push the project back further if there was a large balance of properties yet to acquire. Ms. Ruehle stated that this is true and is why the City started this kind of project, to make sure it was a viable project. City Council Work Session I December 9, 2008 Page 5 of7