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Downtown Redevelopment Plan Taskforce Minutes Page 2 <br />February 5, 2007 <br />------------------------------------------ <br /> <br /> Moorhouse of Dominium, Inc. <br />Ms. Kvilvang introduced guest speakers Frank Dunbar and Mark Moorhouse. She stated that the <br />main goal of tonight’s meeting is to gain a market perspective of the redevelopment area. <br /> <br />Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Moorhouse provided brief backgrounds of their development experiences and <br />answered questions over the course of one hour and forty minutes. Mark Moorhouse added that he <br />grew up north of Becker, and attended/played sports at Elk River High School. The developers’ <br />responses are listed below: <br /> <br />Frank Dunbar, Dunbar Development <br /> The natural barrier of Hwy 10 and the railroad will be a tough issue to deal with no matter <br />how the highway and railroad may change over the years. <br /> Focus on redeveloping south of Hwy 10 as the core downtown. Developers, investors and <br />marketers will prefer this area. <br /> North of Hwy 10 would be a good place to develop employment centers because the <br />daytime users would support the retail located in the core downtown. A medical office <br />building would be perfect for north of Hwy 10. <br /> Retail does not work by train depot stations because people are only there for one hour in <br />the morning and one hour in the evening and they’re typically not shopping during those <br />times. <br /> Future developers will look at MetroPlains as the pioneers of redevelopment in downtown <br />Elk River. They will decide what to do based upon how MetroPlains’ project succeeds. <br /> Redevelopment is difficult and trying to redevelop both sides of Hwy 10 will be doubly <br />difficult. <br /> The next redevelopment project logically should be along the river on Main Street, west of <br />the current project. <br /> Downtown employees should not park in the core downtown as those spots should be <br />available to customers. <br /> Parking lots are better than ramps for customers. <br /> Seniors will be the primary housing market for downtown. Seniors of 60-75 years will likely <br />occupy the units. A grocery store downtown is not crucial because seniors typically have a <br />lot of visitors who always bring them food. <br /> Fine dining may not work in downtown Elk River because restaurants need more than <br />weekend customers to survive. In addition, for a restaurant to be successful, it needs to be <br />supported by the community, not just people working or living nearby. It’s also rare to <br />locate fine dining establishments in the northern suburbs. The restaurant business is <br />extremely tough. It’s even tougher for restaurants who don’t serve alcohol. <br /> Otsego does not provide competitive threat to Elk River. <br /> Better utilization of the river will make future downtown redevelopment successful. <br /> Even in metro area redevelopments, it is very tough to keep retail spaces occupied unless <br />they are corporate users. <br /> If developers break even on retail projects, they are happy. <br /> Established neighborhoods are good for retail in addition to convenient parking. <br /> The businesses downtown are currently and will be in the future destination oriented in <br />nature and do not depend on Hwy 10 traffic. <br /> The funeral home may not be a good occupant for supporting the downtown as a retail area <br />since it is destination based. The funeral home may be a good user for north of Hwy 10. <br /> <br />Mark Moorhouse, Dominium, Inc. <br /> <br />