{"id":249,"date":"2016-09-15T21:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T21:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/?p=249"},"modified":"2016-09-15T22:56:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T22:56:49","slug":"economic-development-monthly-report-august-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2016\/09\/15\/economic-development-monthly-report-august-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Development \u2013 Monthly Report \u2013 August 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Goodwill Industries site (formerly Oja Lumber)<\/u>:\u00a0 The walls for the primary building are now mostly complete, and the foundation for the out building is complete.\u00a0 Looks like the framing for the out building is currently under construction.<\/p>\n

[Goodwill Industries projects a December 2016 completion date for both the new Goodwill building and the additional 4,000 square foot retail building.\u00a0 The retail building has not pre-leased to anyone yet as far as I know \u2013 still 100% available.]<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1205\"<\/a><\/p>\n

9\/7 SACC\/Sandy PD Forum on Homelessness<\/u>:\u00a0 Chief Yamashita led a discussion about homelessness and its impact on the business community in Sandy on the morning of 9\/7 at Buddha Kat Winery.\u00a0 The Chief explained the new category of \u201ctravelers\u201d we are starting to see in Sandy, and why this may be contributing to the number of homeless and the number of incidents requiring police response related to the homeless issue.\u00a0 Some tips were issued (turn off your wi-fi at night, shut off or lock your exterior outlets, trim back your shrubs), and a request was made by the Chief for businesses to begin keeping track of the added expense (having multiple staff open and close for safety reasons, cleaning up messes made by campers, destruction of property, etc.) required to deal with this issue.\u00a0 We had a number of downtown business owners show, and it was a good, positive discussion all around.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to the owner of Mountain Moka (whom I personally invited), who shared the issues they have been facing and has had to add staff to open their store in the morning for safety reasons \u2013 her input was very well received by the group.<\/p>\n

AEC building<\/u>:\u00a0 There have been many changes at AEC HQ recently.\u00a0 The company is currently moving its employees into the space vacated by Firwood Design to make use of badly needed expansion space.\u00a0 They also asked me at the beginning of August to add three of their interior offices to the Available Commercial Properties database for lease to outside firms.\u00a0 Office space is at a premium right now in Sandy, and I can report that one of the properties is already leased (to a law office) and they are close to signing a lease on another.\u00a0 Mr. Brache is also in the process of upgrading some outdated and inefficient HVAC components in his building.<\/p>\n

Carlson property<\/u>: \u00a0Building permits have just been issued to the property owner. \u00a0Next step should be paving of the lot.<\/p>\n

Potential new business<\/u>:\u00a0 I have been approached recently by a specialty bakery that is currently operating in Sandy as a home-occupation business.\u00a0 This nice young couple would like to move the business out of their parent\u2019s basement and into a brick and mortar establishment sometime in the next few months, and are exploring their options.\u00a0 They are quite interested in several properties around town, but would be most interested in leasing the old Crawlers space for a multitude of reasons (not really looking to be a retail business \u2013 they do mostly wedding\/specialty cakes and baked goods for events of that nature).\u00a0 I have reached out to the owner of that building to let him know that there is interest in leasing that space, and have also pointed them in the direction of a few other properties in the event that the owner of the building at Pioneer and Bluff is not interested in leasing.<\/p>\n

Special note:\u00a0 This couple initially started looking for commercial spaces in east Portland.\u00a0 They felt compelled to comment on the following when I met with them \u2013 they said that their experiences with Multnomah County and City of Portland were abysmal and overly bureaucratic, and that the only thing those governments seemed to be interested in was how much revenue they could squeeze out of them and where to send the checks.\u00a0 By contrast, they were actually impressed that I sat down and spent an hour with them explaining things, pointing them toward vacant properties and answering process question for them.\u00a0 They said this made them feel like the City of Sandy actually wanted them to come to Sandy (which we do!), and that this was very, very important to them.<\/p>\n

Anna Zell property<\/u>:\u00a0 Ms. Zell has asked me to take her property off of the Available Commercial Properties database, as it is now 100% occupied.\u00a0 Her final practitioner\u2019s space was filled by a hypnotherapist needing a small office.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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