Agenda - Council Work Session - 01/10/2017

Home

(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. (7)Infrastructure Analysis: Staff is planning to bring a work order request to the EDA/Council specifically related to The COR. Staff would like to complete a preliminary infrastructure analysis, sign plan, and regional Strom water plan for The COR. For a number of reasons,not having this work completed creates complexities/ambiguities/and delays when negotiating land transactions in The COR. Additionally,not having this work completed now could put the city in a disadvantaged position in future (as we may not understand what obligations we are assuming, or pushing off, as master developer,when working on isolated deals today).Attached is an overview of outstanding master developer items for The COR. (8)2017 Additional Resources:At this point,it appears the City Council will be approving a 2017 budget that will include a$25,000 increase in the EDA marketing budget and a 20-hour per week position to aid the economic development manager. Although the exact scope of the work to be completed with these additional resources is not 100% finalized today--these resources will certainly put the City is a position to take a stronger, and more pro-active, approach on economic development in 2017. GENERAL UPDATE ON ACTIVITY Staff has experienced a significant increase in inquires,prospects, and proposed deals over the past 12 months. Generally,it appears the market for development projects in Ramsey is improving. The strongest markets appear to be residential, followed by industrial. The market for office and retail(including restaurants)appears remains soft. Notification: NA Observations/Alternatives: Over the past few years, staff has received feedback from elected officials,the public, and third party professionals related to our strategy for selling city-owned land. Listed below are a handful of opportunities/alternatives to consider as this discussion unfolds. Staff would like to know if the EDA(Council)has interest in further pursuing any of these alternatives (or alternatives not listed). It should be noted,these alternatives are not mutually exclusive (they can be combined). (1) Traditional Broker (current method) Broker creates professional listings, lists properties on websites,places real estates signs, sends email blasts, connects with networks/contacts, and provide market updates to city. A traditional real estate broker typically gets paid a commission between 5-7%on land sales. This marketing alternative is typically the most cost-effective,and requires the least amount of exposure to the city financially, in terms of upfront expenses. Staff believes CBRE is a great fit for this particular strategy. CBRE's 3-year contract is due in January of 2017. The background section of this case provides more information on CBRE. One option to consider is keeping CBRE,and enhancing their services by hiring a PR firm for targeted marketing campaigns (for example,to restaurants or retail), or hire a research firm to help us further refine or prospects. Examples: coldwellbanker.com, edinarealty.com, colliers.com/en-us/us, premiercommercialproperties.com (2) Value-Added Broker Organizations that provide traditional brokerage services,along with additional value-added services. For example, some firms provide professional engineering and land use services, along with broker, or