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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes July 17, 2001 Page 5 �t Council. He added, that this is one of the opportunity sites identified by the Metropolitan 2 Council and stated that they did assist in the funding for some of the studies done for this 3 project. Fortunately, he added, this is the first project to be at this point. 4 Mr. Shardlow stated that it is also important to meet with the bank that owns the property and s discuss the potential ways that they feel the gap could be closed. 6 Mr. Shardlow added that this is not a hopeless situation, but there exist some significant gaps 7 that need to be dealt with. s Mr. Shardlow stated that the decision on part of Salvation Army to probably sell to the 9 Hennepin County Park Reserve, and the change in tax structure are the two significant changes 10 that have occurred since the onset of this project. 11 Mr. Shardlow stated their recommendation is that the Planning Commission accept this report 12 and recommend that the City Council direct the consultant team to move forward in marketing 13 the site for redevelopment. He indicated that by approving this report, they will be indicating 14 their conditional agreement that developments of the style, use and intensity indicated in the 0 concepts are appropriate for the site and will be beneficial to the community. 16 Jim Prosser came forward to discuss three topics: reviewing the framework for concepts 17 included in the Plan,the financial challenges, and the specifics about the next step. 18 Mr. Prosser stated that they would provide a framework, a building block, to look at 19 redevelopment options for the area. He indicated that the information is to be used by the 20 developers to give them a very general framework for preparation of development proposals. 21 Mr. Prosser stated that it is very likely that the development proposals that result from the 22 proposal process will vary extensively from what is found in the framework. He stated it is 23 important to note that this is not any formal zoning for approval. 24 Mr. Prosser reviewed the challenges faced by this redevelopment. He stated it was an 25 ambitious undertaking to begin with. He indicated that the city involvement is critical in this 26 project, and that, without intervention on the part of the City, redevelopment would not occur. 27 Mr. Prosser stated that the challenges are quite clear. He indicated that changes in the tax 28 laws have created a nearly 40% gap in the project, versus a previously comfortable 10%gap. 29 Mr. Prosser then asked if the process was still possible, to which he responded yes. He stated 30 that there existed three alternatives: Talking to the property owners to reduce cost of purchase, 01 Looking at some of the other businesses along Silver Lake Road that could be designed into a 32 more focused retail center, and For the City to look at gaining some grant funds from 33 Metropolitan Council or the State.