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Jay Swenson

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MIXING RETAIL AND SENIOR HOUSING

FOR VICTORIA’S EXPANDED BUSINESS DISTRICT

Two development companies re-sponded with letters of interest and sketch proposals to the initiatives of Council-member Jim Paulsen and the Finance Committee regarding the city’s 13.5 acres that lie between the Victoria Dairy Queen and the existing downtown business district. It’s been called the Swap Land since the City of Victoria swapped land for it with the Three Rivers Park District.

In addition to Councilmember Paul-sen, the city’s Finance Committee in-cludes Mayor Mary Thun and Victoria resident Scott Manion, CPA, with City Administrator Steve Sarvi and City Finance Director Jylan Johnson serving as staff support.

One of the proposals (by Doran Companies) is weighted heavily with senior housing (75%) and a small amount of retail (25%). The other proposal (by Shingobee) is weighted heavily with retail business (75%), including a substantial grocery store, but only a small amount of senior housing (25%).

Both plans indicated a site for a new City Hall/public gathering place.

The plans entail a new entrance/exit onto Highway 5, but neither plan has been reviewed by MnDOT at this time. Pre-viously, MnDOT has said it would con-sider a new “right in, right out” on Hwy 5.

At a special council workshop on Thursday evening, December 13^th, Council reviewed and discussed the two plans with intention to move toward one of the developers. At the end of the work-shop, Council directed Jim Paulsen to speak to Doran about a more balanced ratio of retail to senior housing.

It was pointed out that the major anchor in the Shingobee plan is the grocery, with 50,000 square feet. A study was done to determine the size of grocery appropriate for this space and area. Addi-tional business brought the total retail size to 79,300 square feet. The grocer would like a canopy for gas, a liquor store, and a pharmacy.

Both plans would require some assis-tance in some manner from the city total-ing nearly $2 million.

Stated Councilmember Kim Roden, “I’m not crazy about being forced to pick between senior housing and a grocery store. That’s the impression I’m getting with this and that’s not a comfortable place for me. Frankly, I’ve heard as many requests for a grocery store as for senior housing.”

Stated Mayor Mary Thun, “Both of these developers have said they’re not going forward without some sort of com-mitment.”

There was no indication in the Doran plan as to what the mix of senior housing would be, how much would be apartments and how much would be assisted living.

Stated Councilmember Tim Amund-sen, “We are way over our heads trying to determine the ratio of apartments versus assisted living. It has to be market driven. We can let them know, however, what we’d like to see. None of this does us any good if it’s still empty ten years down the road.”

Continued Tim, “We have to look at the whole downtown area. I’d hate to see more retail liquor and retail gas and retail groceries that would gut our existing busi-nesses.”

Said Councilmember Paulsen, “Re-tailers make mistakes. Kowalski’s went into Lakeville and they’re closing. Wal-mart went into Inver Grove Heights and they’re closing.”

Added Councilmember Roden, “Lund’s in Eden Prairie is closing.”

Mayor Thun said she had a problem with the big percentage of senior housing, but that she also didn’t like the grocer bringing in those particular additional components. She added, however, that she is aware that it’s such components that make it possible for a grocery store to survive. Such components make the cash flow.

Council also discussed the need or re-quest for a signal light at the Dairy Queen intersection and who would pay for it. Said Councilmember Amundsen, “When warrants meet the requirements, the traffic lights will come, so why should the devel-opers put dollars on the table for that?”

Councilmember Paulsen pointed out, “Senior housing is not a very big traffic generator. We’ve got to talk to these people. We can give them some density if they give us some design. Also, we need to know how they are going to phase this project.”

He didn’t mind some density, he said, because “our downtown needs some eaters.” He added, “We’ve got economics like we’ve never had before.”

When Councilmember Richard Tied-ed asked for a meeting between the devel-opers and full Council, Mayor Thun re-plied, “The value of a committee is to do the hard work. We certainly have a lot more questions. We have to put our trust in the committee.”

Regarding the recent agreement with School District 112, Mayor Thun stated, “As a Council, we never met with Super-intendent David Jennings or Finance Director Steve Pumper. It’s not in their best interest to go back and forth and back and forth.”

Agreed Administrator Sarvi, “I think we can shape this and come back to you. We can take your guidance and ask the developer to reshape their plan.”

Councilmember Amundsen said the city’s Business Development Committee should review the plans. “Let’s get more people’s opinions, thoughts, and facts.” He pointed out that in solving the Field House situation, “We set a direction and then we could move. We decided we didn’t want to sell it so we worked toward a partnership.”

Councilmember Paulsen referred to the current momentum with interested de-velopers. “Momentum is a valuable asset,” he said. “I think we should direct staff to go back and make this work.”

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