General notes: The Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce is currently preparing for hosting their first First Friday in August, and so far they seem to be handling the rollout of this event quite well. A lot of the work that Jennifer Marks has done in the past couple of months has been preparatory for this transition, and it appears that her work was very well received. I have been in constant communication with Khrys Jones at the Chamber, and there has been no anxiety on their part at all. The August First Friday looks to be a well attended event, so we will see how things go Friday night.
Chamber President Debi Vann would like me to relay her appreciation on behalf of the Chamber Board to Ms. Marks for all the work that she did in helping Khrys to prepare for this day, and to the City Council for giving the SACC the opportunity to host this event through the Special Service Contract Program. The Chamber is very aware that a lot of eyes are on them right now, and they are committed to not only maintain the event, but to expand it to outside the downtown area in the near future. But for now, the focus is on putting on the best event they can.
Post event update: The August FF was a success, although a bit more sparsely attended than we had hoped. This was probably due to the weather being a bit warmer than we would have liked, along with some weekend camping trips to take advantage of that fact. However, Dolly’s Pet Shoppe held their 10 year anniversary and had their best night ever, and Lori Ryland and the AntFarm also did well.
We are currently discussing at the board level what we can do to start boosting attendance, and couplet event signage has come up multiple times. We will approach Council at a future meeting to discuss the possibilities here…
Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):
Red Boot Branding: Moved in and operational. You will notice upon driving by this site that all of Ms. Lamb’s “garage sale” inventory has now been moved out and replaced with sample inventory and a fantastic new window display with their business brand. It is obvious that these guys have operated a successful retail business for years – they clearly know what they’re doing.
Drop by and say ‘hi’ if you get a moment and talk to them about their services. I have a feeling that this business is going to do quite well here.
NW Trading Post: Here we go again. Mike Booth, proprietor of this business, currently has stores in Canby and Newberg, and has been eyeing Sandy for some time now. This business is a pawn shop, but appears to look more like a nice retail second-hand store. Mr. Booth smartly contacted Chief Kim before calling me, and appears to have all his ducks in a row, so to speak. He is currently looking at the Fastenal Building, and is serious enough that Galen Fancher is looking into bringing his building up to code at the moment.
I will say that my impression of Mr. Booth so far is much better than the last gentleman that wanted to open a pawn shop here. He comes across as very professional and is quite aware of the public perception of his industry. If this starts to move forward, part of my advice to him is to contact his neighbors and communicate with them to try and avoid those perception issues. He told me that this is part of his process when he opens a new store anyway, and strongly encouraged me to contact my counterparts in Newberg and Canby to confirm his professionalism. I have an email out to Renate in Canby, so we will see if he is correct in his pitch. More to come…
Mattress World: So it might not be too soon to sleep like a baby in Sandy, it seems. A representative from Mattress World contacted me at the end of July to talk about a future site here in Sandy. Sean Hathaway says that he has been looking at Sandy for awhile now as a potential site for a new store, and we had a very constructive conversation about demographics, the purchasing habits of Sandyites and potential locations. He would like a space between 3,500 and 6,500 square feet to start looking at doing this, and has had initial conversations with the owner of the Fastenal building regarding potential deals. I also referred him to the recent market study, pointing out that while his business was a bit more specialized, a furniture store seemed to be the #1 most wanted retail store that doesn’t currently exist in town. He surprised me by stating that he has opened furniture stores before and would need to do a little research, but would not be opposed to looking into opening one here as well. Knowing that, I put him in touch with Mr. Picking’s representatives here in town about larger potential future vacancies. Brad and I discussed this directly shortly afterward. Mr. Hathaway has also expressed potential interest in the OWH property, although the price was a bit steep for him. Watch this space.
Cedars Laundromat: It looks like the build out of this business is back on track. Our missing contractor resurfaced after Noryne contacted the business owner inquiring about the halt in progress at the site. Initially the contractors working on the plumbing and mechanical items at this site had moved forward on some of this work without a permit. Upon further communications from the building official and plumbing inspector, proper permits have now been pulled. There are currently some minor issues with the engineering, some minor changes will need to be made to satisfy our plumbing inspector and an ADA parking spot needs to be configured. None of these items, however, should be a barrier to opening the business, which should happen within the next couple of weeks. Mr. Mayor, you should receive a request for a ribbon cutting here from the SACC very shortly.
For those who are curious, the cosmetic upgrades are all complete. New ceiling panels, new vinyl flooring, painted walls, brand new operational machines and vending machines, improved lighting and new furniture (see below) have transformed the space into someplace I would actually consider doing my laundry if I didn’t have laundry facilities at home. Sandy’s residents deserve better than the joke of a business that was here previously, and they will have it very shortly…
Cascade Vision: This business has been located in the Bi-Mart complex for years, but apparently has grown dissatisfied with the management of the complex prior to it being bought out by Albanese Courmier LLC a few months ago. They made arrangements prior to the sale to move out at the end of their lease, and will be occupying the empty space next to 9Round in the middle building over by Sandy Cinema shortly. The property manager for AC was a bit disappointed that they were leaving before being given a chance to rectify the situation, but they also understood the frustration and wish them well in their new location. That leaves two retail spaces to fill in the Bi-Mart complex along with the former Starbucks location. AC will be getting me information on those two spaces shortly so I can add them to our Available Commercial Buildings database.
La Torta Caliente: A quick update on this property – Jerry Carlson has indicated that for now, this would make a great space for a food cart pod. I heartily agree. However, so far Jerry has not expressed any interest in providing any utilities to the site (water, electricity, sewer/gray water, etc.), which will make it difficult to attract profitable food carts, as there are plenty of locations in the greater Portland Metro area that will eagerly provide such amenities. I will discuss this with him the next time I see him.
There is also a new concept on the food cart pod that is opening in a few weeks in Happy Valley.
http://pdx.eater.com/2015/6/10/8754001/happy-valley-clackamas-food-cart-pod-melting-pot
This concept was brought to my attention by Tracy, and it’s a great idea….a 4,000 SF building for up to 23 vendors to occupy, along with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, a play area for the kids, and all kinds of fare including beer and wine. I will take the Planning Department out to lunch here when it opens (tentatively on August 15th) for a bit of reconnaissance, and will contact the developer that put this together if it seems to work to see if she might be interested in building a smaller version of this here in Sandy.
Project work: After discussing the idea in detail with Nancy, I have submitted a pre-application to the Clackamas County Tourism Board for a concept for their Tourism Development Grant. I am calling the project the City of Sandy Omnibus Bicycle Tourism Project, and the purpose of the project is to tie together all of the work that Nancy, Kathleen Walker, Ms. Marks and I have been doing over the last year to build out the bicycle culture in our community.
Currently, the project is going to produce three deliverables for the City. They are:
- Complete the 2015 upgrade for the City of Sandy Bike Map – this includes updating the map, improving the local rides on the back (better pictures, elevation indicators, etc.) and identifying Bike Friendly Businesses
- Building a “Cycling in Sandy” master web page on the City’s site with a series of sub-pages to replace the old “Sandy: Bike HQ for NW Oregon” page that Dr. Lazenby created. The new pages will include dozens of new Sandy-centric rides along with pages for Cycling and Transit, Sandy Ridge, Sandy Bike Friendly Businesses, How to Get to Sandy on your Bike, and a lot of other amenities. (Let me know if you have any suggestions!)
- Creation of a public bicycle station in Centennial Plaza: this highly-visible station will include a Dero Fixit self-serivce bike repair station complete with attached tools and compressed air, additional bike racks, video monitoring and signage to go along side the public restrooms at Centennial Plaza.
I should get confirmation of the intent to move forward from ClackCo Tourism within the next couple of weeks, but Jae Heidenreich has already told me that she loves the idea and sees no reason why they county wouldn’t fund this request. Stay tuned…