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<br />Downtown Redevelopment Plan Taskforce :Minutes <br />February 5, 2007 <br /> <br />Page 2 <br /> <br />4. Market Perspective Presentations: Frank Dunbar of Dunbar Development and Mark <br />Moorhouse of Dominium. Inc. <br />Ms. Kvilvang introduced guest speakers Frank Dunbar and Mark Moorhouse. She stated <br />that the main goal of tonight's meeting is to gain a market perspective of the redevelopment <br />area. <br /> <br />Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Moorhouse provided brief backgrounds of their development <br />experiences and answered questions over the course of one hour and forty minutes. Mark <br />Moorhouse added that he grew up north of Becker, and sports at Elk River <br />High School. The developers' responses are listed below: <br /> <br /> <br />Frank Dunbar, Dunbar Development <br />. The natural barrier ofHwy 10 and the <br />matter how the highway and railroad may <br />. Focus on redeveloping south of Hwy <br />investors and marketers will prefer <br />. North ofHwy 10 would be a <br />the daytime users would support <br />office building would be perfect for <br />. Retail does not work by depot stations <br />hour in the morning and in the <br />during those times. <br />. Future developers will look <br />downtown Elk River. They <br />project <br /> <br />A medical <br /> <br />of redevelopment in <br />upon how MetroPlains' <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />both sides of Hwy 10 will be <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />should be along the river on Main Street, <br /> <br />park in the core downtown as those spots should <br /> <br />for customers. <br />housing market for downtown. Seniors of 60-75 years <br />the units. A grocery store downtown is not crucial because seniors <br />of visitors who always bring them food. <br />. not work in downtown Elk River because restaurants need more <br />customers to survive. In addition, for a restaurant to be successful, it <br />supported by the community, not just people working or living nearby. <br />It's rare to locate fine dining establishments in the northern suburbs. The <br />restaurant business is extremely tough. It's even tougher for restaurants who don't <br />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 <br />unless 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 <br />