3.0. SR 05-18-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Professional Kanste Snyder Drug Homeplace, Inc. Paper Warehouse LifeTime Fitness During this period we were very close to a deal the JoAnn Fabrics, but their requirements for improvements to the County Market space combined with the rent that they were willing to pay, made the lease proposals unacceptable to both parties. At that time Mr. Sheedy approached the Economic Development Department of the City and requested TIF assistance for the store conversion to rentable space. Mr. Sheedy was told this was not possible for this kind of activity, even though we knew other communities were using these funds. We were also told it would be "unfair" competition to local retailers. The deal went away! CITIZENSHIP When we built this mall in the mid eighties, we were required by the administration then in place to orient the mall away from the highway. We all know that that was a mistake and future retail developers were not required to do the same. Yet, we have remained good stewards to the community of Elk River. We have maintained our property in first class fashion, when most would have deferred maintenance to save money. We have only rented to tenants that provide a contribution to the community, not sleazy operators or non-family oriented businesses. We have abided by all our agreements with the City, the banks and our tenants. In short, we have been good solid citizens to the Elk River community, without any financial return. Our lease proposals have been at below market lease rates ($4.50 to $6.50 net). We have even overlooked, in several cases, the financial credibility of the prospects and have been burned in our efforts to add tenants to the mall. And during this period we have not been collecting rent for the County Market space and are presently not collecting rent on the Pamida space. I am disappointed by the notion that we have not tried to succeed. Rather we have gone above and beyond to maintain and enhance a property disadvantaged from its beginning. We have also tried to do this only once asking for T.I.F. assistance. CONCERNS We have recently completed long and complicated negotiations with the purchasers of the GTI theaters. Once again, we have done what is in the best interest of the community and tried to limit our losses along the way. Next we must move forward on strengthening the North half of the mall. We need support and understanding from the Community of Elk River, not new barriers erected and uninformed second guessing as to our efforts to stem the ongoing losses. I am concerned about rumors that other potential retail developers may be receiving government aid on new projects while we continue to struggle to fill our space at below market rates. If these rumors are true, they provide the unfair competition mentioned above. We, the pioneers in the Elk River Mall business, could use some type of assistance to leverage our ongoing