PUBLIC COMMENTS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

From: John Jordan <johnaiordan@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2021 11:46 AM To: Portner, Cal <CPortner@ElkRiverMN.gov> Subject: Re: council Mayor and Council, Good day. I am unable to attend tonight's meeting but wanted to share my thoughts about our beautiful downtown Elk River. My wife and I enjoy traveling the country and one of the most important things we look for in a good trip are wonderful, historic, vital small downtowns. We enjoy shopping, dining and as well as the historical value of those areas. We will sometimes research a city before we visit so we don't miss the hidden historical features one might otherwise miss. Before moving to Elk River we'd been a long time virtually -every -Friday -night visitor to Daddy O's. We not only loved Jeff's restaurant but also visiting something we didn't have in Brooklyn Park, a vital downtown. Growing up in North St. Paul I learned early the value of a vital, active downtown with local shop owners. For me it was Kendall's grocery store, the Rexall drug store and Don's barber shop. We got to love Elk River so much that when the time was right and the opportunity arose we built our one level townhome. I even gave up the final four months of my city council term to make it happen. So when I say we love Elk River and our downtown you can see that love runs deep and we want to protect it the best we can. But our love for downtown isn't just protecting it as it stands but making it better in ways that share both the historical values of it but allows for growth. I have thought for some time downtown needs a quality lodging experience. Elk River can be a visitor destination but requires the missing piece, a nice hotel. If I were to make one suggestion it would be a high end hotel operation that doesn't feature a brand name, but would feature a name such as "The Elk by Marriott" or "The Riverfront by Marriott" (under a nice brand like Marriott, for instance, but a small lettered version of it). I imagine "The Elk" including an upscale hotel, underground parking, retail space, some office space and perhaps some condo space. The design would be a nod to the historical look we love today, not a modern, glass -covered IDS -like structure. There is no reason why our downtown cannot be a small version of Stillwater but it definitely is a "chicken or egg" issue. More retail will come, more restaurants will open but only if there's a reason for it. Incentivizing The Elk to build would give those shops and restaurants a reason to come. Would it harm our current businesses? I think the opposite is true. I think it would fill them even more. More people, more weekends filling downtown with visitors, more events at the Furniture and Things Community Event Center (and places for those people to stay) would be awesome for our downtown.