{"id":234,"date":"2016-05-03T23:11:08","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T23:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/?p=234"},"modified":"2016-05-03T23:11:08","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T23:11:08","slug":"economic-development-monthly-report-april-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2016\/05\/03\/economic-development-monthly-report-april-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Development \u2013 Monthly Report \u2013 April 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.): <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Carlson\u2019s \u201cSandlandia\u201d<\/u>:\u00a0 This project appears to be stalled \u2013 after speaking with Mr. Carlson, it appears to be because PGE is taking longer to install electricity to the site than they had initially estimated. The reason for this delay is unknown. Jerry also has a few details to work out with the Planning Department, but nothing that should cause any major problems.\u00a0 He is justifiably waiting to pave and stripe the parking until the utility installations are complete.<\/p>\n

Goodwill Industries site (formerly Oja Lumber)<\/u>:\u00a0 The 60 day vacate period the Oja family had with the developer of this site appears to be over.\u00a0 There is heavy equipment on the site now, and the main storage building next to Starbucks has now been taken down.\u00a0 The only remaining building on the site is the old shuttlecock-looking mill building, and I anticipate this will be torn down soon as well.\u00a0 Current project completion date is December 2016.<\/p>\n

Michael Maiden properties<\/u>:\u00a0 It appears that Lil Cubs Pre-School, which has been looking for a new home for a couple of months now, has determined that the larger of Mike\u2019s two available spaces might actually work for her.\u00a0 After checking out the space with Terre and I, it seems that we might be on to a pre-application meeting with Planning to see if we can overcome some minor hurdles.\u00a0 I will likely be working with Ms. Turner quite a bit over the summer to see if I can assist her with the financing of this project and getting a few resources to flow her way via the SBDC and SCORE.<\/p>\n

old Paris Caf\u00e9 space<\/u>:\u00a0 \u2026is about to be occupied!\u00a0 Julie Littlepage has put down a deposit on the property and is awaiting state and health department inspections prior to begin customizing the space for her day care center.\u00a0 Terre has inspected the location and has given her a list of conditions to satisfy prior to approval, but there is nothing major on the list and we anticipate smooth sailing.\u00a0 The building owner seems fairly pleased with the lease as well, as all three retail buildings in this complex are now 100% occupied.\u00a0 Ms. Littlepage is anticipating a mid-May opening date \u2013 this is probably a little bit optimistic, but we shall see.<\/p>\n

Sparky\u2019s Pizza<\/u>:\u00a0 Spoke with Todd Sparks via email a few weeks ago.\u00a0 He is currently drawing up the plans for his dining room expansion and plans to bring these in to the Planning Department for an initial review in a matter of weeks.\u00a0 He seems to be genuinely excited about this expansion, and I have relayed to him that we are ready to go when he is.<\/p>\n

I have also approached Todd about possibly being a vendor for Music Fair & Feast in July.\u00a0 The Chamber is trying to organize this event in-house this year after the untimely passing of Kristy Wheeler, the event management vendor we contracted with.\u00a0 We are now free to contract with any food vendors we want for this event, and we are making a concerted effort to include local Sandy businesses for this year\u2019s Feast.\u00a0 It\u2019s too bad that Tamale Factory closed its doors when it did — we might have been able to help them out. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Smoky Hearth<\/u>: \u00a0While contemplating new food vendors for Music Fair and Feast this year (see above), I traveled down to the Smoky Hearth to ask the owners if they would be interested.\u00a0 Their response surprised me: they said they would love to, but they are so low on employees right now that they are beginning to wonder how they are going to keep their doors open this summer.\u00a0 At the time I spoke to them, they said they are at least 3 FTEs down and are worried they might lose more once summer begins.\u00a0 They also said they have tried everything to find employees \u2013 the state unemployment office, local job boards, Craigslist, the \u201cFor Sale in Sandy\u201d Facebook page, the career center at SHS\u2026.they have even resorted to driving through all of the local drive thrus in Sandy handing out free hamburger cards and promising to train and put anyone on the schedule that was looking for extra hours.\u00a0 All to no avail.<\/p>\n

I immediately put them in touch with AntFarm\u2019s program manager to get them a table for their upcoming job fair in May, and also sent a prospective employee their way — I happened to know a small business owner who is hurting for money right now who would happily wait tables or operate a pizza over for a few extra clams.\u00a0 However, this got me thinking\u2026.I wonder if other restaurants and local retail are having a problem finding employees in general, or if the Smoky Hearth is just having a bad week.\u00a0 I will speak with other small businesses in town over the next couple of weeks to see if I can identify any trends\u2026<\/p>\n

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Project work:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n