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<br />Request for Action <br /> <br /> <br />To Item Number <br /> <br />Economic Development Authority 6.1 <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by <br /> <br />General BusinessJune 15, 2015Colleen Eddy, Economic Development Specialist <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br />Marketing Update Amanda Othoudt, EDD <br />Reviewed by <br />Cal Portner, City Administrator <br /> <br />Action Requested <br /> <br />Item presented for information. <br /> <br />Background/Discussion <br /> <br />One of the 2015 performance measures set by the EDA is to connect with at least three data centers. <br />Over the course of 2015 staff has attended several trade shows in partnership with Sherburne County and <br />the Positively Minnesota Marketing Program (PMMP) through DEED. <br /> <br />2015 Trade Shows: <br />The Real Estate Journal Data Center conference in January was held in Chicago and was attended by real <br />estate developers around the country. Staff met with representatives from Jones Lang LaSalle and Parallel <br />Technologies. The relationship with Jones Lang LaSalle turned into a site visit to the county’s data center <br />site which also included representatives from Involta, a co-location data center. The site visit was an <br />opportunity to promote the Elk River, walk the potential data center site and answer questions from both <br />organizations. The visit also included representatives from Sherburne County, ERMU, and Economic <br />Development. <br /> <br />In March, staff attended a data center event hosted by Parallel Technologies. The event was attended by <br />over 30 people from all over the state. Staff met several people, one of them being a representative from <br />Welsh Construction. A follow-up to Welsh led to a site visit which was attended again, by representatives <br />from Sherburne County, ERMU, Economic Development, and a representative from Colliers <br />International who specializes in data centers. <br /> <br />In April, the annual Data Center World event was held in Las Vegas. Over 2,000 people from all over the <br />world were in attendance. The city, again, partnered with the county and PMMP. This event also attracted <br />several new organizations to the Minnesota delegation, including: Michaud Cooley, Xcel Energy, Iron <br />Gate, ViaWest, and the cities of Morehead and Chaska. The event created an opportunity to reconnect <br />with the representatives from Involta. The delegation attended networking events and toured the ViaWest <br />facility. <br /> <br />In May, staff attended the Information Management Network (IMN) Data Center Conference in New <br />York, again attended by people from all over the world. Staff reconnected with representatives from <br />Colliers International and built relationships with Telex, DLR Group, Data Bank, and Brunz-Key. The <br />event was an opportunity to learn first-hand on new trends impacting site selector decisions and a chance <br />Template Updated 4/14 <br />