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Motion seconded by Member Kurak. <br /> <br />Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Riley, Members Kiefer, Kurak, Gromberg, <br />LeTourneau, Steffen, and Strommen. Voting No: None. Absent: None. <br /> <br />Case #1 O: Acquisition of Property Located West of Armstrong Boulevard <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan explained the EDA has discussed acquiring properties to facilitate economic <br />development within the City of Ramsey. Recently the City has been contacted by an agent for <br />seven contiguous acres owned by Kenko, Inc. The asking price for the seven acres is $700,000. <br />It has been the past position of the EDA to look to acquire properties that come up for sale in this <br />area and to facilitate redevelopment. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan explained the Kenko property is currently on the market and the asking price is <br />$700,000 which appears to be quite unreasonable considering recent property transactions in the <br />immediate area to land that does not have any city services available. For purposes of <br />comparison, details of the Menkveld transaction are provided below. The Menkveld property <br />(approximately 11 contiguous acres) located in this general vicinity, sold in June of 2002 for <br />$137,500, or $0.28 per square foot. Anoka County currently has a property value of $146,000 <br />for the Menkveld property. Using the sales ratio provided above would lead to a price of <br />$85,377. This price does appear to be somewhat low but a price of $700,000 is unreasonably <br />high. A funding source has not been identified for this transaction but Staff is looking for <br />direction to locate possible funding sources, including EDA funding, to acquire this property for <br />redevelopment purposes. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan requested direction as to whether staff should start and complete negotiations with <br />the property owner to acquire the property for a fair market price assuming that a funding source <br />can be located. <br /> <br />Member Kiefer inquired if there are other TIF districts close to this that could be expanded to <br />encompass this. <br /> <br />Mr. Sullivan replied in his opinion TIF dollars cannot be spent on this unless a TIF district is <br />created. <br /> <br />Member Kurak noted this property is zoned Town Center. The Menkveld property sold in 2002 <br />for $137,500, however, the property across the street sold for approximately $100,000 per acre <br />without sewer and water. Given that this is designated as Town Center, the price for this <br />property is not as ridiculous as the previously discussed property. She suggested they may want <br />to find a developer to purchase this property and piggy back onto Town Center. <br /> <br />Member Gromberg commented Town Center will drive this property to development. The City <br />could let it sit and still have good control because it is zoned Town Center. <br /> <br />Economic Development Authority/February 9, 2004 <br /> Page 7 of 13 <br /> <br /> <br />