Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 04/19/2004

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OLD TOWN HALL By: Megan Wald, Associate Planner Background: The EDA briefly discussed Old Town Hall at their February meeting. Staff was dlrected to bring the topic to a future meeting for further discussions regarding the pros and cons of keeping the building at its current location or moving Old Town Hall to the Town Center site. Observations: The Old Town Hall renovation and potential use for the building has been a topic of discussion for MANY years. Research still needs to be completed to identify what has been attempted in the past, what has been completed, and what are the current issues, with that said, staff has compiled a significant amount of information to proceed with preliminary discussions. Enclosed with the case is a list of improvements that need to be completed in order to establish the building in a manner that would be conducive to uses. The list of improvements and associated costs were compiled in 1999, therefore, the approximate cost of $62,652 MI1 need to be updated to reflect 2004-2005 construction costs. Staff compared construction costs for projects the City bid' in 1999 and in 2003 and found the rate of increase greatly depended on the type of construction. The increase of construction costs within the 4 year period ranged from 5% - 25%. In summary, it is difficult to estimate how much the estimated cost should be inflated in order to reflect current construction costs and any unplanned required improvements. Staff will begin researching current cost estimates for the subject improvements based on the outcome of the EDA and City Council discussions. The Assistant City Administrator has been keeping a list of people who have contacted staff desiring to utilize the historic building for some purpose. Associate Planner Wald contacted these people and found that they desired to utilize the building for a craft center/craft fair. One gentleman wanted to especially focus on providing a place for seniors to make their crafts and also sell their finished products. Associate Planner Wald contacted Marty Fisher from Premier Commercial property. Marty is one of the partners that established Sunfish Commons, is a part owner of a commercial real estate business that is housed in Ramsey, and has a great knowledge of the retail demographics in Ramsey and the area at large. Staff asked Marty's opinion regarding potential users for the Old Town Hall building' in its current location and within the Town Center. The useable area of the building is 644 square feet in size, with the given size and location along Highway #47, Marry suggested that a Tax/Accountant (like an H&R Block) or an office user (like a consultant) would be a potential user. It is Marty's opinion that the City would receive more inquires if the building were located within Town Center. The existing location of Old Town Hall is very cumbersome. A private street, Landmark Bank, and Children's World borders the subject property (see attached aerial map). The parcel does not contain any parking and is not easily conducive to the installation of an appropriate size parking lot. As previously mentioned, the property derives access from a private street and in order for the building to be utilized by the City or a future tenant; the existing street needs to be upgraded to a public street. This situation poses' several problelns, the private street is bounded to the west by a wetland and a tree line that contains a number of desirable mature trees and to the east the road is adjacent to commercial properties and a sedimentation pond. Disregarding the physical constraints, City Engineer Jankowski provided a cost esti~nate to widen the existing street to a public street (attached to the case). The approximate cost to widen the existing 24 foot street to a 28 foot street is $45,028.00, plus an additional 25% to allow for design, staking, inspection, and project contingencies, which brings the cost to $56,300.00. It should be noted that this estimate does not include any cost to purchase right-of-way in which approximately 50 feet would be needed fi'om the adjacent commercial properties in order to facilitate the upgrade. City Staff and Ramsey Town Center LLC have had preliminary discussions regarding an opportunity to locate the Old Town Hall building within Town Center. Staff and the developer are in agreement that the P. 2