2019-11-13 Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Quad Area Chamber of Commerce The chamber hosted a Candidate Forum on October 3, at Tria Restaurant for those running for the open seat on the Anoka County Board of Commissioners. You can watch the event at www.northmetrotv.com. It is also airing from time to time on our local access channel. Economic Development Authority (EDA) EDA Revolving Loan and Grant Program The EDA has received and its first application for grant assistance through the Business Incentive Revolving Loan and Grant Program. The application, from the Southern Rail bar was evaluated and approved at a special meeting on October 23. The grant will assist with the replacement of the existing garage on site which has fallen into disrepair. Part of the requirements of the grant will be to add architectural elements to the garage, such as accent lighting, cornice detail, gable shakes or decorative door hardware. Demolition of the old garage and construction of the new one should begin soon. City Owned Property Initiatives ed transfer of city-owned property to the EDA, the EDA looked to support the marketing of those properties by directing staff to seek the services and opinions of commercial realtors. Staff has since engaged realtor Mike Brass about the downtown properties and he will be presenting his thoughts on Promotional Video The initial shoot for the economic development promotional video was completed, on Saturday, 10/27 and a first draft of the video is now complete. It features footage of Commerce Drive industrial buildings, the Townoffice Park/Eagle Brook office building, vacant industrial land along Fairview, vacant commercial land on Main Street, Main Street mini-malls and our downtown. Strategic Plan At their October meeting, the EDA began discussing their strategic plan for 2020. The group intends to present this plan to the City Council in January in an effort to better communicate their goals and objectives. Minnesota Technology Corridor Bruce Sayler from Connexus Energy and Jacquel Hajder from Anoka County Regional Economic Development are setting up meetings with United Properties to further discuss the marketing of the 60 acres of property on Fa Minnesota Technology Corridor. We have also reached out to Atomic Data; a local company, offering colocation data centers, hoping they may be interested in discussing our MN Tech Corridor initiative.