Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 12/08/2016

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NUMBERS (1) Closed Deals: since 2013, the City has closed on the sale of eight properties, totaling 39.82 acres, and $4.216M. CBRE was involved with four sales. These sites include: the former municipal center site (GS Land),Windsorwood(former park),McDonald's, Common Bond, Casey's,PSD LLC, and Purmort(two deals). (2) Deals Under Contract: the City(and CBRE)currently have three purchase agreements executed and in-play,totaling roughly 15.68 acres of land, and about$1.275M. These include Aeon,Lifestyle Homes, and Platinum Properties. (3)Potential Deals: the City(and CBRE)are currently in negotiations on two more purchase agreements, totaling roughly 2 acres of land, and about$350K. These purchase agreements include OGA and a daycare/ children's academy. Today, staff feels cautiously optimistic about both prospects. (4) Past Prospects: CBRE brought two deals to the City in 2015 that were eventually turned down, totaling roughly 8 acres. These included Dominium and SCA(both senior apartment projects). (5)Remaining Opportunity: the City has 17 land listings remaining,totaling about 90 acres of land,with a roughly$19M total asking price. NOTE: asking price should not reflect expectations for land proceeds--the City of Ramsey established a pricing table that has been discussed in closed session on multiple occasions--which better outlines land sale predictions/ranges. CHANGES TO CITY STRATEGY, Since 2013 (1) Template PA: The City has developed a template purchase agreement and policy for selling City owned land. This has drastically increased the efficiency/effectiveness of negotiations with prospects. (2)Pricing Strategy: The City has developed a detailed pricing/land sales table that clearly outlines all basic data(numbers)needed to make decisions on deals(offers)that come into the city. This table tracks the number of listings, asking prices, deal ranges, actual sales, sales dates,brief site specific notes,etc. This table has drastically increased the efficiency/effectiveness of negotiations with prospects. (3) Community Profile: The City has developed a detailed community profile. This profile outlines basic demographic information on Ramsey. Additionally, as suggested by CBRE,this document was created to clearly identify the great momentum taking place in Ramsey--within the development community. This document has helped staff convey basic information on Ramsey quickly and professionally. Additionally, this document helps "sell" the city. (4)Marketing Materials: The City has completed a basic refresh of all materials/documents/marketing materials(2015). This basic refresh has allowed staff to update a handful of basic marketing materials, and make custom marketing materials on-the-fly and as-needed. This has helped staff be more consistent, professional, and efficient with the materials and messages sent to potential customers. (5) Shovel Ready: The City is in the process of completing MN DEED Shovel Ready Certifications for the majority of city-owned parcels. This process essentially prepares all information needed by a developer to conduct a preliminary analysis of a land purchase--upfront and ahead of time. This increases the efficiency of the city's development team, and makes city-owned land more marketable. (6)Website Upgrade: The City Council has budgeted enough dollars in 2017 to allow for a website revamp. Said redesign could be an opportunity to improve the functionality of the City's economic development pages--including a mobile friendly website. This is an opportunity staff plans to explore with the EDA/ Council in 2017. It should also be noted, in 2014, for the first time,the City began keeping an inventory of available properties within the community online--which has made communications with prospects/ developers much more effective and efficient.