Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 04/13/2017

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Chairperson Steffen asked which strategies would be recommended and which ones would Oppidan Development help them out with. Mr. Johnson stated he would be as flexible as possible. He stated a firm like CBRE has a strong international and national reach, he would choose CBRE path if just starting out and put their best foot forward. Secondly to that and as it would relate to engaging a developer, their interest in land anywhere is very tenant driven. He stated they could have a project built within twelve, eighteen to twenty-four months. Chairperson Steffen stated the City has about 150 acres of available retail land is located within/adjacent to The COR today. He asked if it was realistic for Ramsey to absorb that much retail land. Mr. Johnson thought right now there was too much land there for retail. He did not think it needed to be rezoned right away but they should look at the next step of retail development after the grocery, he thought better retail would be larger box stores such as Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics, Maurices, TJ/MAXX which from a real estate risk profile would be harder to do for a developer to do. He did not think there was the population or critical mass to pull that off. He would advise the big power centers to be built such as Home Depot, Menards, Lowe's, Fleet Farm. Mr. Johnson stated in closing, the best strategy, where in terms of development they would not just doing another convenience store, the question is how do they grow the tax base and CBRE is already aware of this. He thought there is shovel ready, utility stub, soil corrected large parcels of land in Mpls and there is very few of them left where people are bringing them further out to surrounding communities. He stated Ramsey was probably in the position to respond to a larger land owner such as a manufacturing business use. The EDA thanked Mr. Johnson for being at the meeting. 4.02: Anoka County Open-to-Business Program Update Economic Dev. Mgr/Assistant City Administrator Brama stated Kathleen Duchene with the Anoka County Open-to-Business Program was at the meeting to provide an update. Ms. Duchene updated the Board on the Open-to-Business Program in Anoka County and customers they have helped get financing and start, grow their businesses. Ms. Duchene stated the trends she has seen in the last few years are very little brick and mortar businesses. A lot of new businesses are inside the home and online women's boutique businesses. She stated she has helped a business owner put together an online business in the travel industry for women who want to travel but travel alone. She stated another trend is micro- breweries and organic home to table micro greens businesses. She noted the pet industry is growing and specialty foods, mostly ethnic foods and pasty and baked goods are also growing. Economic Development Authority/March 9, 2017 Page 3 of 12