5.3. PCSR 03-22-2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Project Narrative Intro We are pleased to present our concept to the City of Elk River. Our concept will bring a high demand and long desired business asset to Downtown Elk River and the city’s main East/West corridor, U.S. Highway 10. The concept has been developed in coordination with experienced engineering firms, adjacent business owners as well as city planning staff. We believe our local ownership and development group has put together a winning concept that benefits our investors, as well as the community as a whole. We look forward to your feedback and continued partnership. Overview Lowell 10 Partners LLC is proposing the development of a drive-thru/walk-up coffee business on its .69 acre site located at the southeast corner of U.S. Hwy 10 and Lowell Ave NW in Downtown Elk River. The site is currently serving as additional parking and circulation for the adjacent multi-tenant building, The Perpetual Health Alliance. According to our research, and in discussion with the adjacent business, we feel the proposed development serves both a complimentary use, as well as complimentary peak demand hours. Both businesses view the development as mutually beneficial to their businesses, as well as the greater community. We are developing this site as part of a build-to-suit lease arrangement with a publicly traded company with long term, proven success in the retail coffee space. Upon project completion, the business will not only serve the downtown area, it will also act as an anchor and draw to this area of the city, benefitting not only residents that patronize the business, but also the entire community through its generation of substantial taxable sales that will contribute a considerable amount of regional dollars to your local option sales tax initiatives. As a local ownership group, one of our greatest concerns for any of our projects is the impact to citizens and existing businesses. Through years of effort, we feel we have selected the perfect site for this concept. There are no drive-thru, or walk-up coffee shops that serve Hwy 10 traffic, or the Downtown Elk River neighborhood. As a matter of fact, there is no coffee shop, drive-thru or otherwise anywhere in the Elk River Community West of the Freeport St. Commercial District. Much of the city’s current and projected growth occurring west of Downtown, as well as the recent investment in pedestrian connectivity to the Lake Orono area remains completely unserved by convenient coffee access. With that population currently forced into the over capacity 169/Freeport area to meet their coffee needs, the development of our project will help alleviate traffic congestion in those high-stress areas during peak commuting times. Lowell 10 Partners LLC, as well as its collaborators within the community feel that this is an ideal location for the proposed project, and our request will meet all the criteria to be granted the necessary rezoning request (PUD), and associated conditional use permit (CUP for drive-thru use).