Agenda - Council - 03/12/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memo To: Mayor and Council From: Ryan Schroedcr Subject: Landmark Bank Date: March 6, 1996 At the last councilmeeting an item on the agenda was the Site Plan approval for the Landmark Bank on the old Public Works site. During the public discussion there were concerns raised about bus parking for the remaining city parcel (Old Town Hall site). Questions were also raised regarding the sales price of the bank parcel. .. Regarding the bus parking we have asked the architects for the project to address this issue. At the time of this memo that has not yet been completed but is expected. I have also contacted the Chfldrens Museum in St. Paul to ask for their provisions for bus parking for their facility which has a capacity for 1500 persons. They have a loading/unloading area which perhaps could fit up to four buses. They stated however, that they seldom have more than one at a time and then only two at the most. They do not provide for parking for the busses and send the busses up to the Sears lot which is about three miles distant. It would seem reasonable, then, to expect that unloading of busses at the Old Town Hall would not exceed one for the most part, at a time, and that parking of the bus could certainly be off site. There were questions about the sale price of the property. Enclosed are the comparable sales used in the appraisal. You will note that there is a w~de variance in location and date of sale for the comps. However, commercial land in Ramsey, historically, has not moved ail that well, and therefore comps were difficult to fred. For instance, all of the TH 47 property currently for sale in Ramsey has been available for at least three years and four of the pieces have been on the market for nine, ten or eleven years. The one recent sale since the appraisal is to Super America. That parcel has access on two major roads, not one, and is at a signalized intersection which the City property is not. It sold for $2.80/square foot. I was told at one time that it was listed for over $5/square foot. You will note on the Bank site plan that they are providing right of way for both TH47 and 142nd Street. It is interesting to note that 142nd Street currently is constructed over part of the parcel sold to the bank. After deducting the right of way grants back to the public the price/square foot of usable land, of course, increases. When comparing sales and listing in the marketplace on corridors such as TH47 one must be mindfull of marketing time, list versus sold price, access, and location (which side of the highway is it on). For many retail users the east side of this corridor will be the better, and thus higher priced side. The east side is the homebound side. Also, this is not a con~olled intersection site and thus not as valuable as would be the case ff it were. The holding time for this site also was non existent. While the site could have been marketed through a broker I cant imagine a quicker sale or one resulting in a sale above the appraised value for the parcel. Brokerage fees, of course, would have been an additional expense. We could have advertised the sale through other means. This has not occured up to ttfis point on other sites the City was interested in deleting from its land inventory. Also, you will recall that the City was approached by the bank with an offer to buy the site before the City had begun any marketing of the site. The Council stated an interest in selling the parcel upon receipt of an appraisal. This was completed and brought forward for Council consideration. Council approved the sale through award of the development agreement. I I I I I !' I I I I I I ! I I I I i I