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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 17, 1998 Page 2 1 Bill Warner, Krause/Anderson, reported his company owns the Town/Country building located 2 on County Road 88. He was present this evening to discuss the possibility of a rezoning or 3 acquiring a variance from Commercial to Light Industrial for the abovementioned property. 4 Krause/Anderson's interest is based on securing Robodyne as a tenant for that property. 5 Robodyne has been located in St. Anthony for eight years and has made three moves within the 6 community for expansion of the site. The company has two locations, one in Rugby,North 7 Dakota and one in St. Anthony, and employs 54 employees, 33 employees in St. Anthony. The 8 salaries provided range from $14.00 per hour to $70,000 annually. The Krause/Anderson 9 Company and Ownership Group has toured the facility and found it to be a "clean" user and 10 Robodyne has been a good neighbor in the community for the past eight years. 11 Mr. Warner reported Mr. Alvite currently has 10,000 square feet of space and is interested in a 12 building where the business can anchor and continue to grow for a long period of time. He has 13 agreed to lease the Town/Country building for five years with an option to purchase at the end of 14 that time for$1 million. Krause/Anderson would spend$150,000 on structural improvements 15 including replacing the roof and removing the asbestos floor tiling, prior to Robodyne taking 16 occupancy. Robodyne would invest $300,000 into the building of office area and area for the 17 component work. Mr. Warner noted this site would be used for instrument testing and research, 18 CAD operation, computer design, and office and sales work. The truck traffic will be minimal 19 and will occur during standard business hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through 20 Friday. 21 Mr. Warner reported Krause/Anderson had explored quite a few options for this site. He 22 distributed a 19,000 square foot retail conceptual drawing. He had originally felt that based on 23 the demographics, opinion of the community, loss of the grocery store, and the traffic patterns, 24 there was a potential for retail development on this site. But, in order for retail to be successful 25 in this location, a 4,000 square foot gas and convenience-type anchor was needed. All of the 26 major gas operations in the Twin Cities and Hudson, Wisconsin were contacted and none were 27 interested. 28 Mr. Warner reported that the cost formula was performed and it was determined that a base rent 29 of$16 to $18 per square foot would be required for the gas/convenience area and a base rent of 30 $13 to $15 in the remaining 15,000 square feet of retail. The overhead would be $4 per square 31 foot. This would result in a return of ownership to the investor of 12.25%. Retail tenants were 32 then pursued. The only positive response was from a Subway store for 1,200 square feet. Other 33 retailers were not pursued do to the lack of an anchor. Krause/Anderson spent an excess of 34 $5,000 and several months exploring the retail option but was unable to get it off the ground. 35 Mr. Warner reported there have been a number of inquiries in regard to the site including an 36 indoor and outdoor rental storage facility and a mortuary/funeral home. He stated he would 37 prefer to see Robodyne relocated to this site. Mr. Alvite is adamant to locate on this site or he 38 will relocate outside of St. Anthony. He does not want to leave because he likes the community, 39 his business is established here, and it works well for his family, but he has to stay with the pace