05-20-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

EDC Minutes May 20, 2016 Page 7 of 10 didn't own it. As a result, Beeman contacted Biolife and received a direct contact to the land owners which he forwarded to Empire House. Empire House will be following up with the contact, but it is not certain if they will proceed with the new building or not. Beeman met with the manager of EI Loro and they have indicated that they will be leaving in about three months unless there is a way they can drastically reduce their lease rate and/or increase the number of customers. They mentioned a construction project on County Road 10 near 1-35W that occurred a few years ago, stating that because of the construction project, it decreased the number of customers coming through the door and they were never able to regain that customer base. They would need to drastically reduce their lease in order to stay. Beeman described the new restaurant Arepa Bite, which is a Latin American establishment originating from Venezuela. The owner is from Mounds View and wanted to start a business that was in close proximity to where she lived. This will allow her to spend more time with her family and eliminate long commutes for work. The restaurant was originally supposed to be a sit down restaurant similar to a Chipotle setting however, the building was set up for fast food. As a result, they have had to compromise to a quick serve approach. Commissioner Freichels asked where it was located. Commissioner Helgemoe said it was where Louisiana Po Boy used to be. Commissioner Dahlstrom encouraged anyone to go there, stating the good quality of food served. He described that it is food stuffed into a thicker tortilla with a variety of ingredients. Beeman said they hand roll the tortillas each day and like to keep all their food fresh with about 11 different traditional versions and anyone can also request custom varieties. In addition, they serve sugarcane drinks and have a machine that slices and squeezes oranges for freshly squeezed orange juice. Dahlstrom asked if they have plans to use their drive thru. Beeman said, he hadn't heard, but perhaps they are trying to see if they can smooth out their operations first. Dahlstrom noticed that they didn't have their hours posted anywhere. Beeman said he would notify them and also mentioned that they were going to try it out for about three months then evaluate their operations and customer base. Freichels thought maybe they hadn't figured out their hours yet because they are still trying to figure everything out. Beeman said they do serve breakfast so they are open earlier. Beeman will notify them to post their hours. Coordinator Beeman informed the Commission of the trends he is seeing with phone calls and requests. He said he is seeing a higher volume of calls for industrial, warehouse distribution and some medical space with companies wanting to build and own their own buildings. They all like the Mounds View location next to I-35W. If we had more industrial land we could probably fill it fairly quickly. Tires N More was listed for sale and the owner had two good offers which he declined. He took the building off of the listing and is now using it as a warehouse. Beeman said, the challenge is finding these companies land. We are at the point where Mounds View may need to start building vertically to meet the parking ratios and conserve space. Mounds View is out of this type of space and the only possibility is to focus on redevelopment projects. However, the City Council had not passed an EDA levy when they discussed it about a year ago, and therefore, no funds are available to purchase and demo sites in order to repackage them for development. One option is to