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For the past several years the St. Anthony Shopping Center merchants have hosted the
<br />annual St Anthony Village .Fest parade and street dance. Every simmer we put on a
<br />Carnival with games, rides, and food, and every Christmas we, hold a festive aper house
<br />with sleigh rides and free goodies to thank the people of St Anthony Village for their
<br />patronage over the past year.
<br />Over the past couple of years, we have been working together with the Shopping Center's
<br />owner to update signs and lighting, to repave and repaint the parking lot, and: to install:
<br />curbs and landscaping. While most of the City was focused on the exciting new
<br />development at Silver Lake Village, we were putting our own excitement and energy into
<br />reneging and revit0fting the St Anthony Village Shopper Center as an active and
<br />dynamic commercial destination.
<br />Our hard work and commitment has been rewarded with. success, The current vacancy
<br />rate in the Shopping Center is only about 4% by square footage, in spite of the
<br />admittedly outdated design and , lack of public invent m the we. The two dozen
<br />business owners in. the Shopping Center. Barry, Day :d, Todd, Paan, Bill, Dan, Scott,
<br />Carol, Nick, Vincent, Jessica, Keith, James, Matt, Siso phn, Wole, Beleyu, Sheila, .
<br />Suety, Tony, Dek Keisha, Tora, Paul and lien, along with all of their employees and
<br />staff, believe in. the Adore of the St Anthony Village Shopping Center, and we are
<br />looking forward to working with you on its redevelopment;.
<br />While we fully support the need to update and expand the Shopping Center, we are
<br />concerned that the PlannNg Commission and the City not tine too narrow a view of
<br />what form that redevelopment should take. The g"eaut changes that have
<br />occurred in the housing market ust over the past yeas', especially in higher enol
<br />developments, are a good render to us that local needs and envkonmenta4
<br />conditions can shift quieldy. As one example, just: within the past mouth the condo
<br />tower that vas planned as part of the new Guthrie development was cancelled
<br />because of oversupply in. the market —, the eondominiums have been redesigned as
<br />ofd spate. U St. Anthony VM -age, the Siem 14he Village development sun has
<br />three condo buildings to be bit that will need oecupant&
<br />We feel strongly that,, while the St. Anthony Village Shopping Center is ekarly in
<br />need of redevelopment, the merchants here are well established, productive
<br />members of the community. We supply a variety of goods and senices that the
<br />resxd"b ofd Anthony V"a4ge barb need and. want» While we agree that the
<br />current design is "not the best use of that prime commercial locatio II to ggest; as
<br />the Comprehensive Plan Mwently states; that the shopping Center is "obsolek"
<br />and should be simply swept away and replaced with something biter is to
<br />camplet* ov rlooh the irmportant eontributlns, both Imanei 1. and. social, that the
<br />busixr sses of the app tg Center make to St. Anthony Village.
<br />The redeveloped St Anthony Village Shopping Centex- should the very
<br />significant investment the Cady has already made in the Siler Lake Village
<br />development — not compete with iL St. .stbony needs a development that will add
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