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

Goodwill Industries site (formerly Oja Lumber):  With the grading stage now complete, construction is starting on the primary building on site (see picture below).  Goodwill Industries projects a December 2016 completion date for both the new Goodwill building and the additional 4,000 square foot retail building.  The retail building has not pre-leased to anyone yet as far as I know – still 100% available.

Old Mike’s Tire location:  This space has recently had another business spring up within it’s walls virtually overnight.  The space is now occupied by a business called Events Etc NW, which according to their front counter employee is an event rental company catering primarily to weddings, bar mitzvahs and similarly-sized events.  They have not yet applied for a business license – although an application was delivered to the premises, the owner was out of town and it is unclear if the staff had the appropriate information available to fill it out.  Noryne and I will follow up with this business over the next couple of weeks to make sure that they are properly licensed and inspected.

This complex is now 100% occupied.

Old Thrifty Dollar location:  This space has been subdivided and will feature two brand new businesses.  The smaller space next to the Gateway Pub will become BDK’s Boardshop, Sandy’s newest “skate, surf ‘n snowboard” shop, but will primarily feature apparel and decks for skateboard-oriented millenials as well as a “skateboard museum”.  The space between this store and Rip City Glass will be Imagine Anything Art Gallery, Sandy’s second art gallery and art retailer.  Owner Allen Wilson and his partner sell art installations (primarily segmented landscapes on canvas or metallic backgrounds) at regional shows like the Mountain Festival and Timber Festival around the Northwest, but needed a “home base”.  The space will serve as a storage facility for their significant collection as well as a gallery for one of them to show and sell from while the other is on the road.  Their gallery promises to be an ever-changing space complete with moveable walls, and they already have some of their art prominently posted in the front of the gallery.

This complex is now 100% occupied.

Old Paris Café space:  We are finally seeing some progress at this site.  Julie Littlepage’s day care center has pulled permits and is currently the in process of building out the interior of the business, presumably to be open in time for the coming school year.  We are anticipating a late August opening…

This complex is now 100% occupied.

Project work: 

• City of Sandy Omnibus Bicycle Tourism Project: 95% complete – remaining project tasks are a) receiving 3 wayfinding signs (has shipped but has not arrived yet) and installing them, and b) receiving two-sided weatherproof kiosk (ordered but not shipped yet) and installing at bike plaza with bike map(s) displayed on each side.  This project should be 100% complete by next monthly report.
• 2017 Clackamas County Tourism Development Grant: I attended the required pre-application meeting for the next grant cycle, and I am delighted to say that there have been a few positive changes made to the program. First, the grant ceiling has been raised from $20,000 to $100,000, as the County would like to encourage grantees to “think big”.  Second, CC Tourism is really encouraging “multi-phase” projects and emphasizing that there is no time limit on completing stages of these projects.  I will be meeting with Nancy and a few prominent members of our tourism-oriented businesses (Sandy Inn, Buddha Kat) in the next few days to discuss options, but so far the idea of a two-stage project for Sandy River Park seems to be the strongest contender [Phase 1: parking lot, signage, lighting for the park; Phase 2: single-track mountain bike trails through the park to Cedar Ridge/Bignall Pool once the deal with the school district is finalized]
• City departmental webpages: Putting the finishing touches on Transit’s new page as I write this….should be complete within the next day or two.  The Police Department is next on the list, followed by Finance and Public Works.

Conferences/training: 

Oregon Economic Development Association 2016 Conference (McMinnville, OR):  A 1.5 day conference in McMinnville designed to get the state’s economic developers together for networking purposes.  Programming was very light, but focused on concepts that the State of Oregon has been pushing for years now – craft beer, wine, and farm-to-table restaurants featuring local meat, cheese and produce.  McMinnville has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to all three of these things, and the downtown area of the city is overflowing with fantastic boutique restaurants featuring beer and wine from the area (note: my father lives in Mac and is a prolific mushroom hunter – he sells virtually everything he finds to three of the local downtown restaurants)

It was good to reconnect with my peers at this conference, and I had a number of productive conversations with ED professionals from several cities around the county.  Also, it was here that I learned that my peer in Estacada (Terra Wilcoxson) was accepted for Jamie Johnk’s vacant position at Clackamas County Business & Economic Development, as Jamie has moved on to become the City of Woodburn’s new ED Director.  I look forward to working with Terra in her new position very soon.