5. EDSR 09-11-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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EDA Marketing Committee Minutes A~g~sr zs, zoos Page 3 land fox the sake of having it and making it available. Tviete noted that Northstar design was dictated by the three pxesale users we had, with Gateway we have the opportunity to hold out for medium to large if we know that's what we want. Mehelich stated we need to understand that just because we shift focus to include medium to large size companies, it may take longer because that is not our current natural market. Tviete stated the other perspective is when your small to medium sized grows and becomes your medium to large sized, like Sportech. Clark stated the city's previous policy on abatement was singularly on employment and recently market value has become a key consideration for assistance. As an example, in order to help equalize out the city's residential value base it maybe important to wait for $70/sf buildings rather than to accept $40/sf buildings immediately. He stated it is also about balance to have a little bit of everything and hold to the vision fox each of these and not to cave in too soon in case you don't get the immediate results. 3. Discussion of Objectives and Strategic Alternatives Mr. Wolf requested the committee's feedback on Elk River's perception today and what the vision should be. He presented the following strategic options fox feedback and discussion: • Continue to focus on small to medium sized light industrial manufacturers • "Aim higher" at medium to large light industrial manufacturers • Moxe focus on existing businesses • Target complementary firms • Target commercial/retaIl • More focus on industrial brokers He mentioned these options are not mutually exclusive as we can do any number of these at one time. Urista stated he ran into a businessperson who is moving his business from north Minneapolis near the commuter rail because of the cost of employee's being late. He stated that commuter xaIl needs to be emphasized as a location advantage. Santwixe agreed, and stated we need to continue doing what we've been doing, and to "aim higher" to not cave in on some of this, and agreed with most of the list of options presented. He stated with regard to targeting complementary fnms, axe easier to put into place as soon as you get bigger ones, and that commercial/retail will take care of itself and brokers aren't that important. Tviete agreed, and thinks we need to aggressively start looking toward what land we want to bring online and at what point because we have a limited inventory right now. Santwixe stated he has a hard time imaging where the larger sized companies would locate without a large parcel in mind. Tviete stated even if we had land like Northstar, it does no good to aim higher if the physical limitations prevent it. Carlson stated options are great if you have them. Clark reported that staff will be providing the EDA an update on the work plan fox developing the Gateway Business Center and that will be discussed on September l l~h. He stated it seems cities go through an evolution/maturing process, until now the one thing we didn't have from a marketing standpoint was certain business recognition, for example using the names of the Target data center and the coming data center (even though they don't want to be named). That starts to elevate the community in terms of name recognition and triggers other opportunities. Urista stated the reality is Elk River has been known as having no place to build and that is a problem we need to address and make sure we don't have in the future. Santwire asked Gumphrey the Council's standpoint and if he would vote fox more industrial park. Gumphrey replied yes, we can't go anywhere if we don't have the land. Santwire asked for