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<br /> Joint Development Authority <br />TCAAP Redevelopment Project <br />Joint Development Authority <br />TCAAP Redevelopment Project <br />affordable housing, changes in office needs due to flexible work schedules post-pandemic, and a need <br />for flexible commercial/retail/industrial spaces. <br />There have also been changes in the funding landscape. At the local level, several new sources for <br />affordable housing such as Ramsey County’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), Local <br />Affordable Housing Aid, and State Affordable Housing Aid have come available in the past few years. At <br />the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided new incentives for clean energy and <br />sustainable development. Although some of these have recently been rolled back, ground <br />source/geothermal energy, which is planned to provide a large amount of the clean energy at Rice Creek <br />Commons, remains in place. <br />If the JDA wants to learn more about real estate market and industry trends, it could request more <br />research from staff or organize a panel presentation or developer round table. It could also release a <br />Request for Information (RFI) as a precursor to a competitive solicitation for a developer (e.g. Request <br />for Proposals (RFP) or Request for Qualifications (RFQ)). An RFI can be used to gauge interest from <br />developers and gather information for a solicitation on marketplace topics such as best practices, <br />industry standards, pricing, and technology options. <br /> <br />What has changed about the project since 2016? <br />The fundamentals of Rice Creek Commons, as laid out in the JDA’s vision statement, TCAAP <br />Redevelopment Code (TRC), and Regulating Plan, remain the same. The JDA’s vision statement was <br />lightly updated in February 2023 to read: <br />The Joint Development Authority’s (JDA) vision for the Rice Creek Commons site is to create <br />economic prosperity, build an inclusive economy, have a long-term sustainable development, <br />and develop an energy-forward community by providing much-needed housing at a variety of <br />income levels – including affordable housing – and creating well-paying jobs. <br />The JDA, Ramsey County, and the City of Arden Hills have made forward progress on a number of <br />specific efforts which have resulted in the site being more development-ready than it was in 2016: <br />• Land use: A TRC amendment to increase the housing density on the site was finalized in 2024. <br />• Sustainability: The JDA has clarified its sustainability goals through the creation of site <br />sustainability guidelines so that developers know what to expect when developing on the site. <br />• Environmental remediation: The site received a Certificate of Completion, the highest level of <br />liability assurance available under Minnesota law, verifying the successful completion of all soil <br />environmental remediation, from the MPCA in 2016. Subsequently the EPA and MPCA removed <br />soil and surface water from the federal Superfund list (National Priorities List) in 2019 and the <br />state Superfund list (Permanent List of Priorities) in 2020.