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Jan. 8, 2023
<br />Katie Larson ACIP
<br />City Planner
<br />600 Town Center Parkway
<br />Lino Lakes, MN 55014
<br />Re: Lino Lakes Tech Center & Storage Facility
<br />New Building Narrative
<br />Lino Lakes, Minnesota
<br />Dear Katie,
<br />Below is a brief narrative of the proposed building design, image, and material section for the proposed new Lino
<br />Lakes Tech Center and Storage Facility located at 440 Park Court. The attached application and associated materials
<br />are for the Site & Building Plan CUP Review Submittal.
<br />BACKGROUND FOR LINO LAKES PROJECT
<br />Lariat Companies, Inc. was formed in 1989 by owner and founder, Ed Flaherty. He has a significant business
<br />background that includes starting four companies that grew to over $100M in sales. Applebee’s and Rapid Oil
<br />Change are companies that Ed started which you would recognize.
<br />As part of his investment strategy, he started Lariat as a family office and real estate company. In 1990 he purchased
<br />40+ acres around the Eden Prairie Center. He built that out over a period of 10 years (all speculative buildings) and
<br />owns and manages seven buildings today on that land, Lariat has been a long-term owner of real estate and has
<br />mostly done speculative development as an owner and rehab/turnaround of troubled real estate. Currently, lariat
<br />owns and manages approximately 1M square feet of retail, industrial, commercial office-warehouse, and self-
<br />storage. All this real estate is in Minnesota.
<br />As a small business owner, Ed has seen the need for commercial small tenant space and is now creating a number of
<br />projects addressing this need.
<br />Most office/warehouse for lease space starts at 5,000 square feet and increases from there. That size space is too
<br />large for emerging business.
<br />Current Lariat projects include buildings in Waconia, Coon Rapids and in Chaska. There are three buildings in
<br />Waconia; one building is 12,000 square feet, one building is 9,000 square feet and a third building is 8,000 square
<br />feet. There are also two buildings in Bloomington near the Mall of America. The tenant mix in Waconia includes
<br />the following uses: plumbing contractor, manufacturer’s rep/showroom, auto restoration, environmental company,
<br />flooring distribution and installation, small parts manufacturer, on-line retailer (e-trailer), dry wall contractor,
<br />aviation equipment, repair and sales and disaster repair contractor.
<br />All these tenants, but one, came out of operating in their home and/or self-storage spaces.
<br />We also have two buildings in Bloomington which have larger bays (2,200 – 2,800 square feet). The tenant mix in
<br />these two buildings include granite showroom and fabricator, internet contractor, kitchen cabinet showroom and
<br />distributor, apparel goods wholesaler and retailer, printer, small parts manufacturer, CPA, Hispanic spice distributor,
<br />T-Shirt screen printer, overhead garage door company, photographer, industrial tool repair and distributor, HVAC
<br />contractor, audio visual contractor and distributor, and orthopedic appliance fabricator and repair.
<br />Most of these businesses in Bloomington were mature enough they just needed larger space.
<br />Lariat has developed management systems that allow us to manage these small users efficiently and effectively.
<br />Attachment 2: Applicant Narrative
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