5.1. PCSR 03-13-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ITEM ~ 7. C .ver MEMORANDUM TO: Planning Commissioners FROM: Jeremy Barnhart, Planning Manager DATE: March 13, 2007 SUBJECT: Gateway Business Park As part of the ongoing process to develop the Gateway Business Park, to be opened by Summer, 2008, the City commissioned Maxfield Research, Inc to complete a Market Study for the city owned land. The preliminary draft of that completed study was received by Staff on Monday, March 5t''. This market study will aid the city is laying out the plan, specifically, lot size, etc. Staff conducted a preliminary review of the first draft, and will be finalizing that review with the EDA in April. However, the basic tenets of the report appear to be the following 7 findings. With this information, the Planning Commission can begin to develop goals for the property, to be further discussed in April. Based on a preliminary review, the main findings appear to be: 1. There is limited market for retail uses; property on the east side lacks visibility but has better access, property on the west side has increased visibility but poor access. 2. There is limited market for strictly office uses. 3. The industrial development of the entire 60 acre site is more practical, although the likely uses appear to be focused on the sectors currently serving Elk River: Construction, Transportation, Warehousing, Manufacturing. 4. This industrial development will likely see an 80/20 split owner occupied/ leased. The owner occupied spaces would likely include 20-30,000 square foot buildings. 5. The owner occupied sites should be around 5 acres, and the leased space sites about 6.5 acres. 6. The expected annual absorption rate is approximately 12 acres citywide, 25% of which could be captured by Gateway. 7. There appears to be no benefit to deferring development of the property 5-10 years. With a consensus of goals and objectives between the EDA and PC, staff will prepare three development concepts for consideration, to be reviewed in May.