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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 19, 2024 6 Councilmember Holden said when they build a hotel there, the City gets the property taxes and that's it. She wonders how they can pay the bond back early based on people being excited to go to the facility. Jim O'Keefe said the $25 million of economic impact is based on each person attending the tournament spending $136 per tournament. He said it's not just the property taxes. It's the retail and other things when people spend money in the community. Councilmember Holden said that goes to sales tax. She stated the money the City gets is based on property tax. She understands it makes for a more vibrant community, but it doesn't increase the City's bottom line. Shawn O'Keefe said typically, it's not just the building and hotel. The surrounding area will get built up with more businesses. Jim O'Keefe shared a case study where they found the hotels, the restaurants and entertainment venues will reach out to these tournament facilities and ask what types of tournaments are going on because they staff based on the number of people anticipated to attend. Councilmember Holden asked how many full-time permanent or part time positions would this type of facility create. Jim O'Keefe said he didn't have exact numbers but thought it was a 40/60 split. There would be full time during the week, and they would have to amp up staffing with part time employees on tournament weekends. He believes a facility would have 30-50 full time positions. Temporary Chairperson Rousseau asked what the actual scope of the project is, as they used several examples that are very different in scale. Jim O'Keefe referred to the building in Kansas City that was shown earlier. That building is almost 300,000 square feet. Discussion ensued regarding square footage of similar buildings and number of courts. Councilmember Fabel noted that Ramsey County owns that land. He wondered if they have had discussions with Ramsey County. Shawn O'Keefe said they have had brief discussions with Ramsey County and they have expressed interest. There biggest interest was to serve members of the community and economic impact. Jim O'Keefe said they are aware of the pre -development agreements. He thinks the county is cautious about what they want to talk about and where. That is why MTWC has stated that they don't want to presume to go anywhere. He thinks Ramsey County will need to be an integral part of the discussion. Temporary Chairperson Rousseau asked what next steps in the process are. Jim O'Keefe said question one is does the community want it. Question two is location.