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McDonald's (Viking Drive Re- alignment) <br />We will need to come to decision on this project in the very near future. Attached is a <br />sketch McDonald's has provided us relative to a transfer of land for a realigned Viking Drive in <br />return for a portion of the Oasis Market parcel and some excess Rice Street right -of -way. Some <br />key issues to resolve are: <br />• What is the value of the remnant Oasis site (about 40,000 square)? <br />• Will McDonald's pick up the costs of demolition of the Oasis buildings given <br />their needs? <br />• Can we obtain grant funds from MnDot ($500,000) to assist with the project? <br />This would require us to let a contract for construction by next April if we are <br />successful. Lee and I have met with MnDot and I would characterize our <br />chances as "reasonable" given the limited pool of money. <br />• What will Ramsey County contribute to eliminate access points to Rice Street <br />(they are presently reviewing this)? <br />• Can we acquire the residential properties at a reasonable price? The asking <br />prices are dramatically above the County's estimated market value for each <br />parcel. (I will be meeting with the realtor prior to Wednesday's meeting.) <br />• Do we need both residential parcels? We definitely need 91 W. Viking Drive. <br />However, we only need a small portion of 85 W. Viking Drive. The realtor <br />has combined both properties in his listing. <br />• Can we achieve a developable parcel at 85 Viking Drive, possibly with some <br />additional land from RJ Marco's Building? <br />This is a "now or never" proposition in my mind. The key issues seem to be aligning <br />to make it possible, but that window won't be open long. <br />John Mathews Project (Rice Street Area) <br />This project has a lot of promise, but appears dead given the eminent domain law <br />changes and the exorbitant asking price for one of the parcels. I have not heard from Mr. <br />Mathews for a couple of months now. I am assuming he is not interested given the verbal <br />commitments he did not follow through on prior to the changes in the eminent domain law. <br />This might be a situation where we try to acquire the two northerly parcels to <br />preserve a coordinated redevelopment opportunity and at a minimum, combine those two pieces <br />of land that by themselves, are difficult to redevelop in a high quality manner. It would likely <br />take $700,000 to $800,000 to do that. We could also consider options to purchase on the other <br />parcels, but with no stated timeframe, I doubt that would be very effective. <br />Saxon <br />At this time, I believe the private sector will need to drive redevelopment of this site. <br />Should it become available, we should be prepared to review our current economic landscape <br />and determine the best course of action at that time. <br />Gateway <br />Sherman Associates is under contract for the remaining parcels. While buildings have <br />been constructed, occupancy is lagging. I believe we need to continue to monitor this situation. <br />-2- <br />