Minutes - Economic Development Authority - 02/11/2021

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4.02: Consider CBRE Real Estate Listing Agreement for City Owned Land Economic Development Manager Sullivan presented the staff report. Brian Pankratz, CBRE, stated that during 2020 the retail and office markets basically shutdown as people worked their way through but the industrial and residential markets took off and continued to stay strong. He stated that heading into 2021 industrial and residential continue to stay strong but it appears that retail and office are starting to come back as well. He noted that in the past few months they received more calls related to the commercial and retail parcels within The COR than they did for the entire 2020 period. He noted that the additional residential construction that has occurred in Ramsey is beginning to show in the retail market demographics and increase interest in Ramsey. He stated that he also has a call later today from a national builder looking to construct owner occupied townhomes within The COR. He stated that the improvements at Armstrong and Highway 10 and the addition of Delta ModTech are additional benefits that retailers will look for. He stated that CBRE continues its marketing efforts on multiple platforms as well as cross selling. He explained that sometimes he receives a call from someone looking to develop in another community, but they suggest Ramsey because the available sites would better fit their needs, noting that the business would perhaps have not considered Ramsey otherwise. Member Riley referenced the comment related to the demographics of Ramsey and asked if there is anything the City can do to ensure that those demographics are updated as quickly as they could be. Mr. Pankratz replied that retailers use different services to track that type of data and therefore he is unsure if there is a specific action the City could take to ensure all those systems are up to date. He commented that during the past five years he has seen changes in the demographics for Ramsey that have been beneficial in attracting development. Member Riley stated that perhaps staff could make a note and follow up to determine if there are things the City, County or CBRE could be doing to update that information as soon as it can. Mr. Pankratz stated that businesses also use traffic counts, noting that those counts are typically updated every few years. He used the example of Armstrong Boulevard and believed that traffic count has dramatically increased since the completion of the interchange and noted that would help to attract retailers that look for drive -by traffic when selecting locations. Economic Development Manager Sullivan provided background info' nation on the systems the City uses to create its economic development report. He stated that the City could also complete additional traffic counts in the area. He did not feel that now would be the right time to provide an accurate count as some people continue to work from home because of COVID. He stated that CBRE also refreshes its marketing brochures every three to six months with the changing demographics. He stated that Ramsey is approaching 28,000 in population with a median income of $95,000, which garners respect and interest from retailers and other businesses. He noted that Mr. Pankratz does a great job of focusing potential prospects on Ramsey. He believed that the City, with its partners of the County and CBRE, does an excellent job marketing itself. Economic Development Authority/ February 11, 2021 Page 3 of 8