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To understand the potential subsidies that could be involved in structuring a redevelopment 117 project, Staff put together a map of all of the assessed value per s.f. for each property in Twin 118 Lakes (Attachment B). Of course, actual purchase prices can vary substantially from the 119 assessed value, but for planning purposes, this can be a useful estimation tool. 120 These sorts of maps are generally pretty accurate in terms of identifying the sites that will likely 121 have the most initial redevelopment activity since, all things being equal, the market will tend to 122 move towards the lowest cost sites (indicated in red). Looking at the recent activity in Twin 123 Lakes, this seems to be also holding true. Of course, for location sensitive uses, such as retail, 124 gas stations, etc. premiums will be paid for sites with certain attributes such as access, traffic 125 counts and visibility. 126 One note of caution, the use of this sort of rule of thumb data can be helpful for understanding 127 what a potential prospect would be willing to pay for land/estimate subsidies, but it does not 128 answer the question of whether there is enough demand in the marketplace to accommodate the 129 amount of desired redevelopment over any particular time horizon. It also does not answer the 130 question as to whether any new redevelopment would be additional activity in the City or just a 131 relocation of existing demand, resulting in vacancy in other parts of the City. To get at these 132 sorts of answers, a market study would be necessary. 133 Understanding of Competitive Properites 134 For much of its existence, the Twin Lakes area faced very little competition. Redevelopment 135 sites of this size in close proximity to the central cities are relatively rare. In the mid 2000s the 136 New Brighton Exchange (formerly Northwest Quadrant) finally developed a functional 137 redevelopment program and for the last few years, Twin Lakes has tended to finish behind the 138 New Brighton development area, particularly in terms of coveted headquarters sites. 139 Soon, two new significant competitive sites will be coming on the market. The largest 140 competitor will be the Rice Creek Commons (formerly TCAAP) site in Arden Hills. This site is 141 undergoing substantial cleanup in order to be shovel ready. Approximately $30 million is being 142 invested to provide shovel ready development sites. 143 The Ford Plant in St. Paul is also undergoing active cleanup and will be on the market soon. 144 Since it is on the other side of St. Paul, it won’t compete as directly as the other two sites. 145 However, when it comes to highly sought after land uses, particularly corporate headquarters, 146 this site could be strong competition. 147 Compared to this competition, Twin Lakes is at a disadvantage in terms of site control, cleanup 148 status and delivery speed (shovel ready). The latter factor was one of the key reasons CSI chose 149 the New Brighton site. 150 Appropriate Design Standards/Regulations 151 One of the first questions in any redevelopment strategy is to perform a triage process to 152 determine if all sites are likely to need to go through full demolition or if there are some sites that 153 are perfectly fine, needing of protection, or only need minor changes. The comprehensive 154 understanding of the brownfields situation can be valuable for this process. For instance, if there 155 is contamination that is of significant concern for public health and if it is located under or within 156 the building itself, there may be no feasible solution except to remove the building. 157 Understanding this sort of information is important before making rehabilitation/upgrade 158 investment decisions for both the City and the private sector. 159 160 Page 4 of 8