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Home My WebLink About3.1 4-11-2023 EDA Meeting Minutes CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ____________________________________________________________________ MINUTES Economic Development Authority (EDA) Meeting April 11, 2023 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a meeting of the Economic Development Authority was held on the 11th day of April, 2023, at 7:30 a.m. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. by EDA President Bailey. ROLL CALL Assistant Mann called the roll: EDA President Bailey-Here; EDA Vice President Dennis-Here; EDA Member Carey-Here; EDA Member Krohn- Here; EDA Member Myers-Here; EDA Member Sandi Scott-Here. Members Present: Myron Bailey, EDA President Steve Dennis, EDA Vice President Chris Carey, EDA Member Joe Krohn, EDA Member Dan Myers, EDA Member Sandi Scott, EDA Member Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Jennifer Levitt, City Administrator Gretchen Larson, Economic Development Director Brenda Malinowski, Finance Director Jaime Mann, Assistant to the City Administrator Emily Schmitz, Interim Community Development Director Others Present: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.1 Approval of February 14, 2023 EDA Meeting Minutes EDA Vice President Dennis made a motion to approve the February 14, 2023 EDA Meeting Minutes. Motion was seconded by EDA Member Krohn. Motion passed unanimously (6-to-0 vote). BUSINESS ITEMS 4.1 Economic Development Update/Business Inquiry Gretchen Larson, Economic Development Director, reviewed the Beige Book Report: Employment: Grew moderately since the last report. Price Increases: Modest overall amid some signs of easing inflationary pressures. Food & Hospitality Industry: Continues to struggle to find workers with many workers reporting they quit their jobs in recent months to start their own business, complicating an already challenging situation. Consumer spending: Fell slightly. Commercial construction: Fell slightly. Commercial real estate: Was flat. Residential real estate: Continued to slow or stopped altogether in some areas. Manufacturing: Activity increased modestly. Agriculture Conditions: Remained strong. Minority and Women-Owned Businesses: Reported steady activity, although labor market tightness continues to put uneven pressure on minority and women entrepreneurs. Project Updates: Cottage Grove Apartments: Framing, insulation, and drywall continue for the building while trade work nears completion in the south half. The View: Construction of the wood-framed portion of the building continues, with trade work ongoing. Cottage Grove Logistics Park: Both current buildings are waiting on materials to complete electrical work. NorthPoint is proposing to construct a speculative office area in each building to encourage leasing as ready to occupy. They now have their first tenant; with Van Meter’s expansion, they took 104,000 square-feet. Renewal by Andersen: Interior framing and plumbing have begun. Pizza Ranch: Drywall has been installed and finishing work has begun; they’re still hoping to open probably in June. Wells #2 and #7: Framing and insulation are complete for these water treatment buildings. Pacific Dental: The permit has been issued, but construction has not yet begun. Ulta Beauty: Plans have been received for the interior remodel and façade improvements for Ulta Beauty, to be located next to Planet Fitness. Home Choice: Plans have been reviewed and approved for their furniture store, located next to Ace Hardware. Jersey Mike’s: The building permit has been issued for Jersey Mike’s subs, which will be located in the building adjacent to Menards. Glacial Valley Park: Plan review has been completed for the new building. Director Larson stated she and Acting Community Development Director Emily Schmitz would be happy to take any questions, but none were asked. PUBLIC HEARINGS 5.1 95th and Jamaica Land Sale to Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC Director Larson stated the City has received a Purchase Agreement from Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC, for the purchase of the vacant property located at 95th Street South and Jamaica Avenue South. Hohenstein plans to build a beverage distribution facility at the site. Historically, all land in the Business Park has been sold to the EDA and then sold to the end user, allowing for cost recovery to make the site pad ready. Pursuant to Minnesota Statute Economic Development Authority - Minutes April 11, 2023 Page 2 of 2 469.105, the EDA must hold a public hearing on the sale of the property and publish a notice of the hearing at least 10 days but not more than 20 days in advance; the official notice for this hearing has been published in the City’s official newspaper. EDA President Bailey opened the public hearing. He indicated anybody who wanted to speak on this item was welcome to do so at this time. As no one wished to speak on this item, EDA President Bailey closed the public hearing. Recommendation: By motion: 1) Approve a resolution for the purchase of property from WAG and sale of property to Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC for development purposes. 2) Authorize the EDA President and City Administrator to execute the Purchase Agreement with WAG for the purchase of 19.17 acres for development purposes. 3) Authorize the EDA President and City Administrator to execute the Purchase Agreement with Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC for the purchase of 19.17 acres. EDA Member Myers made a motion to approve a resolution for the purchase of property from WAG and sale of property to Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC for development purposes. Motion was seconded by EDA Vice President Dennis. Motion passed unanimously (6-to-0 vote). EDA Member Scott made a motion to authorize the EDA President and City Administrator to execute the Purchase Agreement with WAG for the purchase of 19.17 acres for development purposes. Motion was seconded by EDA Member Krohn. Motion passed unanimously (6-to-0 vote). EDA Member Carey made a motion to authorize the EDA President and City Administrator to execute the Purchase Agreement with Hohenstein Real Estate, LLC for the purchase of 19.17 acres. Motion was seconded by EDA Vice President Dennis. Motion passed unanimously (6-to-0 vote). EDA President Bailey welcomed Hohenstein’s to Cottage Grove. EDA Vice President Dennis told Hohenstein’s that we were very excited to have them here, as investors in our community. Hohenstein’s is a fantastic, family-owned, Minnesota licensed wholesaler for alcohol beverages, most notably in the beer realm. They have the preeminent craft beer book in the State of Minnesota, so we’re very happy to have them here. OTHER BUSINESS 6.1 EDA Calendar EDA President Bailey noted the EDA Calendar had been sent out to all EDA Members. 6.2 EDA Comments EDA Vice President Dennis stated we had a monumental accomplishment take place in the City, a AAA bond rating. He asked Finance Director Brenda Malinowski to speak a little bit about that accomplishment and what that means for our community. Director Malinowski stated what it means for our community is that we are one of the few communities in Minnesota that holds that AAA bond rating; that tells our bondholders, our residents, and our businesses that we do a great job with our finances and our financial planning. In the future, when we want to issue bonds for the community, we will do that at a lower interest rate, which will be a savings for our taxpayers. EDA Vice President Dennis said that’s a huge thing for us; if you think about how interest rates have recently risen and with additional cost factors across the board, for us to be able to achieve this and have a higher level of value is really an amazing thing. This is something that is usually relegated for far larger cities than ours. So, it speaks very clearly to the job that everybody has done, our Council and our staff team, to manage a really good business. It’s not only going to help us in the future to get a better interest rate, but it will also give us an opportunity if we want to refinance some of the current notes we have, we can also get a lower rate on those. This can make a big difference for us. We have new investors coming to town, and it should provide a lot of confidence for them to know that we run a good business here. EDA President Bailey stated not that many cities in Minnesota have a AAA bond rating. He remembers when he became mayor 16 years ago, one of the things we always aspired to get to was a AA+ bond rating, which we did; then we said and heard that it was going to be a very long time before we would get to a AAA bond rating. We thought we needed to be a much bigger city, and it took years to do this, but we’ve got that rating now. He gave kudos to our City staff, our City Council, and to the EDA for making this all happen. It will definitely be a cost savings for our citizens in Cottage Grove. EDA President Bailey asked if we would have another EDA meeting before we got to ICSC; City Administrator Jennifer Levitt replied yes, and at that time, we’ll make a presentation to the EDA regarding our efforts and strategies. EDA President Bailey stated he and Vice President Dennis and some of our staff members will be going to the ICSC Convention in Las Vegas towards the end of May to meet with developers and investors about bringing their businesses to Cottage Grove. 6.3 Response to Previous EDA Comments - None. 7 WORKSHOP - None. 8 ADJOURNMENT EDA Member Scott made a motion to adjourn. Motion was seconded by EDA Member Carey. Motion passed unanimously (6-to-0 vote). Respectfully submitted, Jaime Mann Assistant to the City Administrator /jag