General notes:  The Economic Development Department/Sandy Main Street office is starting to come together.  Organizational work continues, but the piles of paper are slowly receding.  I did find a way to move my old desk and all of my office furniture from the SandyNet offices, and we have a much more functional office because of it (and no additional office furniture expenses!)  SandyNet was also able to give me network access to the main copier at City Hall, which essentially allows me to print and copy in color, allowing me to avoid purchasing a color printer for our office as well (we’re going to be doing a lot of color flyers and promotional materials for SMS over the next couple of months, and substantially more once the FTTH project gets rolling in the spring.)  We are also in the midst of installing the SMS signage on the western-most window of the AEC Building, which should match Tracy’s new façade improvement on the building quite nicely.  Stop by and check it out when you get a minute…

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.): 

We are beginning to see some movement on a number of potentially large development projects.

• We have had the first of (hopefully) many discussions with Bob Skipper and the Lundeen family on how to proceed with developing their parcel of property north of 362^nd.  The next step here is to get permission from Eric Lundeen to stake out the 362^nd expansion north of US26 so we can get a visual on that project and determine what structures on the properties will need to be moved.  Clackamas County’s Business & Economic Development team is assisting us with this project.
• We have a meeting scheduled at City Hall in mid-November to introduce Wendy Higgins (destination hotel) and her project staff, Brandon Johnson (owner of Johnson RV), and Mark Benson’s property management representative.  See below for more information.
• We have a small developer looking at the property at 17275 Strauss to see if they can purchase it from the current owners and turn it into a day care center.  The project looks viable IF they can get a purchase price from the property owner that is anywhere close to reasonable.  Sadly, this is not likely to happen…
• Repairs on the Sah Building (next door to City Hall) continue….the monument sign out front has been repaired (lighting) and is now displaying only current businesses, and several of the vacant spaces have been upgraded (new floors, paint, removal of unneeded walls, etc.)  Stephanie’s Intl Restaurant is considering converting the old Rainbow’s End (glass shop) property into a banquet room, and there are several businesses that are considering the old Reel Tackle store as a new home.  Due to confidentiality requests, I must keep the identity of these businesses under wraps for the time being, but if a deal happens, you’ll hear it here first.  J

Old Coffee Station property:  This is the property in the downtown couplet that seems to be receiving the most attention from small business owners as of late.  There are currently two businesses that are actively looking at this property, and a third that is at least considering it.  The first is a gentleman from southern California who is looking to put in another coffee shop featuring a bean roaster.  The second is a gentleman who has a successful tamale shop in the region, and would like to sell tamales out of the location.  Finally, I spoke to a local Sandy woman a few months ago who was interested in putting a waffle shop there, but she is looking at other locations as well, and indicated to me that this property might not be big enough for her needs.  All of this is amazing for a property that is almost $2 per square foot.  More on this property as things develop.

Royal Flesh Tattoo, version 2.0:  The tattoo parlor formerly in the Sah Building has relocated to the old Sandy Gold Swap location.  The owner is a very nice young man, and has been very easy for Terre and I to work with during the build out.  His shop will be open for business in November.

Country Co. Insurance:  Work has begun upstairs on the property at 37396 Ruben Lane (Web Steel HQ), and they’ve already landed a business.  Country Co. will be opening a branch office in the small suite of this building, and plans to be open for business by January 1^st.  The building owners will have some easy ADA updates to make (adding an ADA parking space and sign, vertical grab bar in bathroom, add handrails to entrance of building) and a safety update for the staircase in the middle of the building, but they were anticipating these repairs and seem to be OK with them.  They also told me that they have had a serious offer on the other, larger suite in this building as well, and that we should see a business license application for a client moving into that property very soon.

Union 76 Station:  This station has been purchased by a franchise operation out of Eugene, and they have renovated this property literally overnight.  I accompanied Terre to their fire/life/safety inspection, and they had a crew getting the store ready for a November 1 opening date, a deadline they made with hours to spare.  Special thanks to Terre for arranging a fire inspection to fit this deadline on a moment’s notice (and while the fire inspector was on vacation as well!)  This store is currently open for business.

Ox & Marley:  I recently spoke to one of the owners of this fantastic new store, and believe it or not, they are already making money!  They also have a holiday party at the store scheduled for tonight (November 8^th) from 4 to 8pm, so if you haven’t yet had the opportunity, stop by and check out this brilliant new retail store!

Sandy Main Street:  Aubrey and I have taken Main Street by the horns and are currently trying to wrestle it to the ground, so to speak.  We have moved full-time into Jason’s old office and are currently trying to get the office as organized as possible.  Right now, our priorities for SMS are as follows:

• Preparing the Tree Lighting Ceremony for December 6^th
• Working on the committee structure for SMS (relieving members that no longer wish to participate, finding replacements, changing the administrative nature of the committees (getting committee chairs to commit to actually chairing meetings and drafting agendas – thus relieving staff of those responsibilities), and possibly reviving the Steering Committee)
• Beginning data entry into Downtown Diva
• Creating another SMS event for Q1 2014 centering around restaurant promotion
• Establishing a downtown visioning event for late Q1 2014 to discuss how stakeholders would like to see downtown Sandy evolve 10, 15, 20 years into the future
• Figuring out how SMS can serve most effectively as a general consultant to small business and putting procedures and resources in place to that effect

If you as counselors (or small business owners for that matter) have any input into any of this (Carl, I’m looking at you), SMS’s number is (503) 489-2173 and our office doors are always open.  Please use Aubrey as a primary point of contact for Sandy Main Street, and feel free to discuss with her any and all issues you would discuss with me – she is actually closer to the day-to-day operations of the department than I am, and is quite capable.

SMS Trick or Treat Trail (October 26, 2-5pm):  This year’s event went off without a hitch.  We did not capture an abundance of statistics from the event, but preliminary results seem to indicate that we received between 500-700 children, depending on location.  This is a substantial increase from last year’s numbers (300-400).  I believe that our numbers improved due to improved weather (overcast but not raining, as compared to rain during most of last year’s event) as well as improved organization and outreach.  Special thanks to Aubrey Erwin (who not only did the majority of the ground work on this event but sacrificed her Saturday to make it happen) and Wesley and Samara at the AntFarm (who provided us with a few crossing guard volunteers to serve at some of the more congested intersections in the couplet at no cost to the City).   Special thanks is also extended to Charity Chalmers at Chariteas, Julie Kennedy at the UPS Store, and the staff of the Sandy Historical Society for setting up our three costume contest photo-op stations….winners of the costume contest will be selected at the next SMS Promotion Committee meeting.

ED Committee:  There is no ED Committee meeting scheduled in October.  Due to the evolution of my position, I have put off ED Committee meetings until early 2014 – taking over Main Street and making sure SMS events are not only flawless but correctly documented for future promotion is the priority right now, as well as my director duties for the Chamber of Commerce (retreat, annual meeting, potentially moving the Chamber to the Historical Museum building, etc.) and my “Business-friendly Task Force” duties for Mayor King (primarily putting together the “How to Open a Commercial Business in Sandy” document for the City of Sandy website).  Plus, as we have seen with the committee structure for Sandy Main Street, it is difficult to get committee members to show up for meetings in November and Dec ember due to holidays and vacations.

Project work: 

• destination hotel – Movement!  We have a meeting currently scheduled for November 14^th in the City Hall conference room to discuss the possibilities surrounding a potential move for Johnson RV.  Meeting attendees include Wendy Higgins and her project staff, Brandon Johnson (owner, Johnson RV), Spencer McCormick (Mark Benson’s property management aide), and City staff (currently myself and Tracy, although Seth is always invited to anything related to destination hotel promotion).  I would caution the Council that the prospects of finding a solution that everyone can agree to are not overly high, as the plot of property involved has less buildable land than Brandon’s current location (he would like a larger lot), although Mark Benson has committed to talking to the Sobellas to see if they would like to sell some of their land on the other side of the property.  However, you can’t make any deals without talking first.  I will inform Seth and the Council as to the progress, if any, on this project if and when that progress is made.  Think positive thoughts…  
• SIFI fiber project – Contract negotiations between the City of Sandy and SIFI continue.  We anticipate having a completed contract to discuss at the second council meeting in November.  Joe and Scott’s available time will be understandably minimal over the next few months as a rollout plan is finalized and monitored.  I have secured a commitment to discussions with Joe when time permits pertaining to marketing and advertising issues related to the rollout, including a standard pricing and services plan for different tiers of fiber as well as VOIP phones for business (which I am anticipating will be almost as desirable as fiber for some local businesses)
• The Mayor’s “Business-Friendly” Task Force – Participants have now been identified (Grant Baker, Lois Coleman, Seth Atkinson, Lisa Foster [LT Travel, SACC director], Tracy Brown, Terre Gift, myself), and our inaugural meeting has been set for Nov. 20^th.  Results of this meeting will be in next month’s ED report.

Conferences/training:  [OEDA Conference, 10/21,22, Hood River Best Western]  OEDA is a great networking opportunity for economic developers statewide to come together for a couple of days and talk shop.  Some of the most invigorating programming pertained to using outdoor recreation as a draw to get people to come through your town.  You would expect this from cities like Bend and Hood River, but I was surprised at the success rate of programs put together by places like Cascade Locks.  I have long had the idea of putting together a “Guide to Outdoor Recreation in the Greater Sandy Area”, which would contain all outdoor recreation for the area, including the obvious (biking, hiking, equestrian, camping, rafting, backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, hunting, etc.) and the not-so-obvious (skateboarding, paintball, BMX, golf, disc golf, archery, etc.)  Now if I only had a budget and a staff…

Upcoming conferences include:

• “Building the Gigabit City in Oregon” [Friday, November 22^nd– Eugene, OR]:  Councilor Pietzold recommended this training opportunity for Seth, Joe and I as part of our preparation for the coming FTTH rollout.  It’s an all-day session taught by a broadband specialist at the EWEB’s training facilities in downtown Eugene.  The focus of the course is to:
  • identify potential local funders and anchor subscribers for the network
  • design surveys and other data gathering tools that identify needs and generates potential customers
  • assess business models and network financing options (working lunch)
  • create an initial project that drives your network build out and broadband adoption
  • develop marketing strategy and tactics that generate revenue

We are currently looking to see if we have funding to cover this event for the three of us, which is looking likely at this point.