HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-02-16 JDA
AGENDA
Monday, May 2, 2016
5:30 p.m.
Arden Hills City Hall—Council Chambers
1. Roll Call
2. Approval of Agenda
3. Approval of Minutes, 4/4/16
4. Public Inquiries/Informational
a. The intent of the Public Inquiries/Informational part of the agenda is to provide
interested parties with an opportunity to speak to the JDA about an issue or concern
about a past or future agenda item. The current agenda for tonight's meeting is
structured to ensure that the JDA accomplishes their business within that agenda. If
there is a public hearing scheduled as an agenda item, the public will be invited to speak
to that agenda item. In addressing the JDA, please state your name and address for the
record, and a brief summary of the specific matter being addressed. To allow adequate
time for each person wishing to address the JDA, individuals should limit their comments
to three (3) minutes. Written documents may be distributed to the JDA prior to the
meeting, or as bench copies, to allow a more timely presentation.
5. Consent Agenda
6. Old Business
7. Public Hearing
a. None
8. New Business
a. Master Developer Solicitation Selection
9. Development Director Update – see attachment
10. Administrative Director’s Report – see attachment
11. Commissioner Updates
12. Adjournment
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
Joint Development Authority
Monday, April 4, 2016
Arden Hills City Council Chambers
Minutes
5:30 pm
Present:
Joint Development Authority: Chair David Sand, Commissioner Blake Huffman,
Commissioner Fran Holmes, Commissioner David Grant, Commissioner Rafael Ortega
Also present: Jill Hutmacher, (Arden Hills); Josh Olson, (Ramsey County)
Roll call taken.
Approval of agenda.
Motion by Commissioner Huffman seconded by Commissioner Grant to approve the agenda as
presented. Motion carried.
Approval of March 7, 2016 minutes.
Motion by Commissioner Ortega seconded by Commissioner Grant to approve the minutes as
presented. Motion carried.
Public Inquiries/Informational
None
Consent Agenda
None
Old Business
Master Developer Interview Schedule and Update
Josh Olson discussed the schedule that would be followed for the Master Developer Interviews.
He indicated the County had received four responses to the Master Developer solicitation and
these responses were reviewed by the Solicitation Review Committee (SRC) on Tuesday, March
29th. A decision was made at this meeting to interview all four proposers. Interviews would
begin on Monday, April 11th. It was noted the JDA would be interviewing the proposers on
Tuesday, April 19th and Tuesday, April 26th.
Commissioner Grant questioned when the JDA would get a copy of the proposals. He hoped to
review this information prior to the April 19th interviews. Josh anticipated the JDA members
would receive copies of this information after the April 11th SRC meeting.
Commissioner Grant asked when the SRC would have their reports ready for the JDA to review.
Josh believed staff would have their reports drafted for the JDA the middle part of next week
(Wednesday, April 13th). He explained the staff report would have comments regarding all four
vendors.
Commissioner Grant inquired if the JDA would still be making a final decision on the Master
Developer on May 2nd. Josh indicated staff was not planning to hold a special meeting between
April 26th and May 2nd. He reported the Master Developer would be discussed and decided on
at the May 2nd JDA meeting.
Commissioner Ortega asked if the May 2nd deadline had to be held. Development Director
Hutmacher reported this was a self-imposed deadline due to the design standards process. She
explained the County and City wanted to bring a Master Developer on board as soon as possible
given the fact design plans for the spine road were moving forward.
Public Hearing
None
New Business
LMCIT Insurance Renewal
Josh reviewed the LMCIT Insurance Renewal information with the JDA. He explained the new
rate was lower than was estimated by staff.
Commissioner Grant asked if the reduction in the policy had any correlation to a reduction in
coverage. Josh reported this was not that case.
Motion by Commissioner Huffman seconded by Commissioner Ortega to approve renewal of
the LMCIT Insurance Policy. Motion carried.
Development Director’s Report
Development Director Hutmacher stated she had no information to report.
Administrative Director’s Report
Josh had nothing to report.
Commissioner Updates
Chair Sand questioned how the re-meandering of the creek was coming along. Josh discussed
the creek re-meandering project in detail with the JDA. He was pleased to report the County
Road H interchange bids came in lower than anticipated. Development Director Hutmacher
reported the creek re-meandering work needed to occur seasonally and the project would not
be complete this year.
Future Meeting Schedule
The next special JDA meeting will be Tuesday, April 19 at 5:00 pm at Arden Hills City Hall. The
next regular meeting will be Monday, May 2, 2016, at Arden Hills City Hall.
Meeting adjourned at 5:55 pm.
Approved _____________________________________ _______________________
David B. Sand, Chair Date
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
AGENDA ITEM 8
MEMORANDUM
DATE: April 29, 2016
TO: Joint Development Authority Board of Commissioners
FROM: Directors Hutmacher and Worthington
SUBJECT: Rice Creek Commons Master Developer Selection
Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source:
n/a n/a n/a
MASTER DEVELOPER SOLICITATION PROCESS RECAP
On January 4, 2016, the TCAAP Joint Development Authority (JDA) approved the issuance of a solicitation for Master
Developer, endorsed the solicitation review process, and the formation of the Solicitation Review Committee (SRC).
Responses to the Master Developer Solicitation were due Wednesday, March 9th, 2016. The JDA received four
responses. The responses include:
• Alatus LLC
• Kraus-Anderson & Elion Partners
• Opus Group & Pulte Homes
• Ryan Companies & Lennar Corporation
On March 28, 2016, the SRC met to discuss solicitation responses. Based on the review of the four responses, it was
determined that all responders met the minimum criteria and interviewed all four proposers. Interviews took place on
April 11, 2016.
Based on the review of the solicitation responses and interviews, the SRC forwarded a shortlist of proposers to the JDA
for interviews who best demonstrated their qualifications, organizational and financial capacity, and their ability to meet
the shared goals of the City, County and JDA. The SRC shortlisted the following proposers to the JDA for interviews:
• Alatus LLC
• Opus Corporation & Pulte Homes
• Ryan Companies & Lennar Corporation
The JDA interviewed Alatus LLC and Opus Group & Pulte Homes at a special meeting on April 19th. Ryan Companies &
Lennar was interviewed by the JDA on April 26th, 2016.
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
Attachment
A. Master Developer Solicitation Responses – Key Differentiators
JDA Action Requested:
Approve the selection of ___________ as Rice Creek Commons Master Developer, and direct staff to negotiate a
development agreement with Master Developer.
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
DATE: April 29, 2016
TO: Joint Development Authority Board of Commissioners
FROM: Directors Hutmacher and Worthington
SUBJECT: Master Developer Solicitation Responses – Key Differentiators
Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source:
n/a n/a n/a
MASTER DEVELOPER SOLICITATION RESPONSES – KEY DIFFERENTIATORS
The Rice Creek Commons master developer solicitation resulted in responses from several of the region’s leading
commercial and residential developers. While the responses demonstrated individual and firm experience in projects
similar to Rice Creek Commons, the proposals and subsequent interviews provide numerous areas where each of the
firms/teams differed. The following memo intends to provide a few areas where staff saw the greatest differentiation
between the shortlisted firms:
SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING
Alatus LLC identified Tradition Development Corp to lead the single family component of the development. Tradition
Development Corp’s Cobblestone Lake development in Apple Valley, MN is a 310- acre comparable development in
terms of size and horizontal mixed use. Arden Hills staff noted the Cobblestone Lake development was used as a
housing example in a mobile tour during the TCAAP master planning process. Tradition builds a variety of upper-scale
residential products, utilizing high-quality finishes. Their communities stress aesthetic cohesion and a product that is not
“cookie cutter” in terms of appearance. They build a large number of amenities, and utilize unique characteristics of
existing site features (such as the Barn at Brandtjen Farms). While Tradition Development Corp will lead the single
family development, the Alatus team noted it would work with a wide variety of smaller builders to achieve an ideal
market mix of starter, mid-range and higher value homes and create aesthetic differentiation.
The Opus/Pulte partnership identified Pulte Homes to lead the single family component of the development. Pulte
Homes intends to offer a wide range of housing products, both used locally and used successfully in other parts of the
country. Pulte recommends that the Hill be developed primarily with single-family homes on various lot sizes. The Creek
neighborhood would be targeted to empty nesters with low-density custom homes in the NR1 subdistrict. The Town
neighborhood would be targeted to millennials, pre-family and post-family households. Row homes and townhomes
would provide sense of scale and a pedestrian-friendly environment along arterials. Small lot single-family and rental
MEMORANDUM
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
and ownership multifamily would also be developed in the Town neighborhood. Each of the three neighborhoods would
have an HOA to maintain common areas. While Pulte Homes is identified as the primary single family developer, the
Opus/Pulte team noted it would work with other homebuilders (they identified Hanson Builders as part oftheir team at
the Review Committee interview) to provide additional product differentiation especially at the higher price point.
The Ryan/Lennar team identifies Lennar as the lead for the single family component of the development. As a national
builder, Lennar has access to a catalog of home styles and designs across the country. Lennar sees the Creek
neighborhood as influenced by the surrounding natural environment with traditional architectural styles. The Town
neighborhood would be the “social epicenter” with maintenance-free housing products. Along the east-west pedestrian
corridor, Lennar proposes housing to be architecturally dominant with garages in the rear. The Hill neighborhood would
have larger homes on larger lots. Lennar noted it may work with other homebuilders to provide additional product
differentiation, but their catalog is extensive and had the capacity to provide desired differentiation.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Alatus LLC proposal differed from the Opus/Pulte and Ryan/Lennar proposals. Alatus and its Principal Bob Lux
would will serve as master developer and thereby be responsible for overall coordination of the master developer team.
Alatus is partnered with Inland Development Partners (retail, office, and commercial) and Tradition Development Corp
(single family residential). The Alatus LLC proposal focuses on a small core team of principals with a larger, more diverse
set of advisors. Alatus has committed to utilizing other large developers in partnership for specific projects.
The Opus/Pulte and Ryan/Lennar teams demonstrated similar organizational structures to one another whereby a
strong commercial developer and strong residential developer forms the partnership. They both indicted they might
employ additional consultants or niche developers to their team, but they stated they had the organizational structure
between the partners to keep the majority of work ‘in-house.’
TOWN CENTER
Each of three shortlisted firms acknowledged the town center portion of Rice Creek Commons to be the most
challenging development area.
Alatus LCC stated development would begin with the residential neighborhoods and town center. Retail would include a
regional grocer and a national fitness provider. Alatus reinforced the town center as not only central to the site but also
central to the creation and success of the brand and ‘place’ of RCC. They stated the getting the town center right early
was important to the other components of the site including single family residential and the attraction of major
corporate user.
Opus/Pulte’s proposal indicated the development of the town center to be a second phase of site development. They
expressed concern about the phasing of the town center development.
Ryan/Lennar stressed their commitment to making the town center unique and successful but cautioned moving quickly
with the development of it. They reiterated other regional attempts of suburban town centers have yielded mixed
results and in some cases ‘ghost towns’. The Ryan/Lennar team felt strongly maximizing development energy in other
portions of the site would ensure a positive development outcome for the full site.
Joint Development Authority
TCAAP Redevelopment Project
PHASING
Due to market conditions, each of the developer candidates would likely start with mid-range single-family housing in
the Hill or Creek neighborhoods. Alatus has a flexible approach in terms of meeting different market segments and
cycles because of the wide range of development partners and small builders with whom they would work. Opus/Pulte
and Ryan/Lennar have similar approaches in terms of phasing for single-family housing.
Commercial and Office development will be heavily market driven. All developers cited the lack of market interest in
speculative office construction, and noted that the retail development at County Road H would need to lead commercial
development on site. The most notable exception is that Alatus would focus more on the Town Center development
initially than either Opus or Ryan. Alatus’ recent experience with Block E in Minneapolis is relevant to the mixture of
uses and amenities that the Town Center could attract. Opus and Ryan have done high-profile projects (Arbor Lakes and
Downtown East respectively) that are relevant to the Town Center; Opus expressed concern that the Town Center
development in Phase 1 or 2 would be difficult. Ryan’s experience with Downtown East is more commercially focused,
with less of a “town center” feel in terms of the street level retail. Alatus stressed the need to be thoughtful about the
Town Center development, and fully “activate” the streetscape. They also called out the importance of intentionally
connecting that part of the site to the civic spaces near the water resources corridor and water treatment plant.