Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 12/08/2016

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(5)Event Attendance & Networking The development world is a relationship business. The city could put more of an emphasis on staff attending various networking events,trade shows, etc. Examples (site selectors events, commercial real estate development association, and the global retail convention). Examples:siteselectorsguild.com, icsc.org (6)Master Developer Private sector organizations that specialize in managing large developments. This opportunity comes in many forms. On one end,the city could sell all city owned land in/near The COR to a master developer. Then, let the master developer work the the city to develop their property (much like PSD LLC). On the other end of the spectrum,the city could simply hire a master developer for consulting/professional services. The city would maintain control of land.Another option is in the middle,the city to allow a developer an option to purchase, or a commission for sale, on all city owned land. However,the master developer would manage/ partner in all development services/planning/marketing. The positives with this alternative include: an organization that has experience successfully managing and completing large developments, the ability to bring in owner equity or equity partners,the city would only be dealing with one entity rather than several,and a"partnership relationship." The drawbacks would include: master developers often have their own opinion,vision,and priorities,master developers may only work with certain users, and may exclude other users,master developers may pressure the city to reduce development standards and development fees to get deals done,and if master developer were to pick up all city-owned land upfront,they would likely only do so for a discounted price. Lastly, it should be noted,the city may want to consider engaging PSD LLC about strategy for marketing The COR. They are a major land owner, and a partnership may yield certain efficiencies and synergy. Regardless of which alternative is selected as part of this discussion, staff will recommend formally connecting with PSD LLC. Examples:kadevelopment.com, rjryan.com, ryancompanies.com, opus-group.com (7)Market Research Firms Private organizations that specialize in providing detailed/specific research for real estate--including in-depth marketing analysis, and demographic analysis. This could be useful for Ramsey in the areas of retail (restaurants and shopping), anchor users(theaters),hotels, and office users. This could also be useful in aiding staff/brokers with better understanding what our best, and most market realistic, development opportunities in Ramsey are, and will be into the future. This could also help us better understand the customer profiles of potential shoppers. These firms would likely bill like any professional services firm--by project or by hourly rate. These firms would pay a lot of attention to Ramsey's customized research needs. These firms would not have a motivation to close deals. The city would use our EDA marketing dollars to fund this work(and potentially EDA professional services dollars). A benefit of this alternative is no commission payments on land transactions (i.e. we could maximize land proceeds). Also,we wouldn't be tied into a contract. This city did complete two retail studies, similar to what is being proposed here,in 2008 and 2011. The city did contact all leads identified in the study. Unfortunately,no actual land transactions transpired as a result of this study. With that in mind,timing was not the best(i.e. since the Great Recession retail has been a challenging market).Attached is the 2011 study for example. Examples:McComb Group LTD, buxtonco.com, nielsen.com Funding Source: Depends on scope of work, and type of work. Recommendation: