PL MINUTES 12021985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-5- 1 the 1 ,000 square feet to be provided for the Chandler Place apartments, in this 2 building. 3 4 Commissioner Madden said he could see the need to switch from condominiums to 5 rental because-of market changes`, but he was still concerned about_ addinq 6 33,000 square feet of commercial* because the consensus of the__-Task -Force hadbeen 7 that housing should be provided where the Saliterman property stood, which would 8 support the remaining commercial being condensed into a more viable shopping 9 center. Now, the Commissioner said, the City would be putting one of those 10 buildings back into commercial when the study group had agreed there was just too 11 much commercial in the area already. , Commissioner Madden said he had become very 12 concerned to hear the developers suggest one of the new spaces might be occupied 13 by a pharmacy when there were already two in the existing shopping center, and, 14 the Commissioner added, if the library moves to this location, another vacancy 15 would be created in that center. He said it was his perception that the Task 16 Force recommendations were "all going out the window" and adding 33,000 square 17 feet 'of commercial to this area would just be defeating the purpose .of the study. 18 Commissioner Madden later indicated that he found it hard to believe "the vacant 19 stores in the St. Anthony Shopping Center might only be an anomaly resulting from 20 the owners_ desire to operate in an economic vacuum", saying he had never understood 21 how "you can make money by losing money" . 22 23 Commissioner Wagner said he perceived that, with new residents moving into the 24 area and with the addition of new types of services which draw more people into 25 the area, like a new library, or a restaurant, rather than to drain business away 26 from the merchants who are there now, the commercial might actually benefit them 27 by= attracting more customers to the area. 28 29 Commissioner Hansen said he generally viewed the proposed project positively, 30 although he could see Commissioner Bjorklund' s point about the traffic. He said 31 he would like to see what would finally be proposed for that space because he had 32 heard over and over the same question from persons who were interested in the 33 Kenzington, "will there be new shops provided in the area?" . The Commissioner 34 indicated he perceived the key to the project's success would be the kind of 35 establishments which are put into the commercial space, because, from what he 36 had heard, he wasn't certain the stores in the existing center would provide the 37 services the seniors seemed to think they required. 38 39 Commissioner Bowerman indicated he intended to make a motion of approval of the 40 entire project because he perceived the main focus should be on whether the City 41 of St. Anthony was going to go forward with a change for a major installation of 42 housing, with the public financing necessary to make it go, and that the commercial , 43 which the- Commissioner considered not to be very big when compared to other 44 commercial projects, should be only a secondary consideration, because the market 45 would determine how successful that would, be in the long run anyway, Commissioner 46 Bowerman added, the developers would certainly have to do something else with the 47 property if the commercial proved not to be economically feasible. 48 49 Commissioner Madden indicated he believed the Task Force had foreseen the same 50 influx of people coming into the .area but had perceived they would be necessary. 51 to rebuild and support a viable shopping center. The Commissioner said he never i 52 doubted the new commercial space .would fill up immediately but was still con- 53 cerned that more vacancies _tn,.the existing shopping center would result. 54 55