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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDA 2020-03-11 Minutes 4 # MINUTES OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS HELD IN THE COUNCIL WORKROOM, 4301 CITY POINT DRIVE MARCH 11, 2020 The Economic Development Advisory Committee of the City of North Richland Hills, Texas, met on the 11th day of March, 2020 at 11:45 a.m. in the City Council Workroom. Present: Mr. Bob Brown Smurfit Kappa Mr. Mark Deno Medical City North Hills Ms. Mindy Monroe Legend Bank Mr. Jay Redford CBRE Valuation &Advisory Services Ms. Janice Townsend Roots Coffeehouse Mr. Michael Wright MJW Architects Mr. Mark Wood Howe/Wood & Company Absent: Ms. Rena Arnold In Aereo Mr. Ron Huggins Huggins Honda Mr. Mike Vasquez Cirque Real Estate Staff Members: Mr. Craig Hulse Economic Development Director Ms. Elizabeth Copeland Economic Development Analyst 1. CALL TO ORDER Mr. Brown called the meeting to order at 11:50 a.m. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS No public comments 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 3, 2019 ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING APPROVED A MOTION WAS MADE BY MS. MONROE, SECONDED BY MR. WRIGHT TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER 3, 2019 MEETING. MOTION TO APPROVE CARRIED 6-0. 4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR'S REPORT 4.A NEW AND UPCOMING BUSINESS UPDATE March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 1 Mr. Hulse gave an overview of business and development related activities that occurred in North Richland Hills during 2019. Activities include the following: • The city processed 107 case submittals (zoning, platting, site plans), 7 more cases than previous year to date • 453 total construction permits were processed, presenting $111 million in construction value • Within that, included were 87 commercial construction permits, including 85% of which were commercial remodels • 232 new single family residential permits were issued in 2019, the most in Northeast Tarrant County, including the high growth cities of Southlake (142) 2019 was a monumental year for the city with a number of highlights including: • TEXRail opened in early 2019 • Babe's Chicken Dinner House opened, exceeded expectations by 50% • Alamo Drafthouse Cinema opened with the third best opening for the North Texas chain • Rufe Snow widening completed • City Point plan finalized Noteworthy New Businesses that opened in Q4 2019 include: • VCC Embellishment Solutions, 6420 Wuliger Way, 25 employees • EECU, 9009 N. Tarrant Parkway, 5 employees • D'Lites Shoppe, 6305 Precinct Line, 6 employees • Dunkin, 8183 Precinct Line, 12 employees • What's On Tap, 6020 Parker Blvd, 7 employees • Kahuna's, 8509 Davis Blvd, 5 employees Upcoming New Businesses which will be opening soon include: • False Idols Brewing, 7924 Maplewood • Keyworth Brewing, 6428 Davis • Sweetie Pie Rib Eye's, 6720 NE Loop 820 • Fatburger, 6039 Precinct Line • NT Offices, 8813 N. Tarrant Pkwy • Garcia's Latin Cuisine, 8447 Boulevard 26 4.B DEVELOPMENT TRENDS (COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL, MULTI-FAMILY) Mr. Hulse discussed development trends from 2019. Year over year, the city saw a slight dip in permits, but this is an indication that the city is returning to normal trends after three previous years of tremendous activity. March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 2 In regards to capital investment, the city saw over $53 Million in single family and $18 Million in commercial investment. As far as retail trends are concerned, there was slight uptick in vacancy rates, with a few closures. Hobby Lobby is moving to Hurst and La-Z-Boy is not renewing their lease. Overall, 2019 was a good year for development and new businesses. Office is still an opportunity for the city; however, the vacancy rate has gone significantly down as many primary employers are occupying space. While multifamily trends show a spike in vacancies, the increases are due to new complexes being delivered and beginning to fill their units. The Millennium is nearing completion and is expected to be absorbed over time. Rent is steadily increasing as single family property values are rising. Mr. Redford noted that he is still seeing a lot of development, but anticipates increases in refinancing due to lower interest rates. Ms. Monroe has not seen a slowdown and noted that the drop in interest rates is attractive to redevelopment and refinancing. The 15-year mortgage rate dipped below 3% for a very short period of time. From a financing standpoint, there is still strong demand. Mr. Wood mentioned that it is difficult to find land to build on in NRH because pad sites and land is getting eaten up along Mid Cities, Davis and Precinct. There is a significant amount of office activity in the area. There seems to be quite a bit of interest in Precinct Line Road. 4.0 REVIEW 2019 CITIZEN SURVEY RESULTS Mr. Hulse discussed results from a recent Citizen Survey which is conducted every two years. This past year, the city received 1,630 responses, 530 via mail and 1,100 online, with a confidence level of 95%. The objective is to measure the quality of life of our citizens, understand what kind of communication tools they prefer and identify gaps in services so the city can reprioritize and shift resources accordingly. Citizens were asked the level of importance of a city service and a quality rating to identify gaps between quality and importance. Areas that have large gaps include maintenance of residential streets, management of traffic flow, traffic signal timing and code enforcement. In general, the city has some areas of improvement with streets. Overall, residents are happy with the city services and leadership. Smaller gaps include ambulance services, fire services, parks, trails, open spaces, recreation programs, library services and special events, indicating that overall, people are very happy with the services offered by the city. When determining what to focus on, the city identified areas to increase efforts, including maintenance of residential streets, management of traffic flow, traffic signal timing, code enforcement, maintenance of major streets and animal control. March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 3 Within the survey, there are some questions directly tied to Economic Development to help identify areas for the Economic Development department to improve upon. One of the questions asked is "Would you like to see more of any of the following types of businesses in you city?" The top answer was 'Sit Down Restaurants' with 52%. `Entertainment' was second, but had been fifth in previous surveys. In 2017, `Movie Theater' was the second most requested business type, but it has dropped to the fourth position with the opening of Alamo Drafthouse. Mr. Hulse noted that storage is at the bottom of the list and has been for the past three surveys. Another question that is of interest to the department is "Where do you do the majority of your shopping?" In 2017, 'In Store' received 89% and `Online' received 11%, but this year, 'In Store' decreased to 83% and `Online' increased to 17%. While this doesn't seem like a lot, the shift 6% downward is tremendous to the brick and mortar retailers. The online businesses are paying lower rent, employing fewer employees, have less maintenance, etc. and there will continue to be a shift towards online. This is important as communities are reinventing themselves and looking at sales tax. Recently, the Comptroller determined that instead of sales taxes collected online being allocated to the city where the item shipped from, it will now be allocated to the city where it is being shipped to. This will benefit North Richland Hills. 4.D REVIEW PROPOSED MAJOR AND RESIDENTIAL STREET BOND ELECTION Discussion of the Citizen Survey led to Mr. Hulse presenting information about a potential bond election. Thirty-five residents were appointed by City Council on September 13, 2019 to serve on the Capital Program Advisory Committee. They met seven times from October through February, reviewed citizen surveys, established evaluation criteria, and reviewed and prioritized street rankings by driving the streets. The Committee recommendations are as follows: • Call for a May 2020 bond election • Issue up to $49.875 Million in GO bonds for streets • No tax rate increase -A voter guide will be placed on nrhtx.com with additional information, including why a tax increase will not be included in this bond election. The city is retiring a substantial amount of GO bond debt over the next few years which gives capacity to add more and not have to raise the tax rate. • Debt to be issued and all projects complete within 7 to 10 years • Reconstruction of 27 streets proposed • Proposed projects total 24.7 lane miles • Combined, these streets carry more than 73,000 vehicles per day • Major roads include Bedford-Euless, Glenview and Iron Horse which are all commercial streets in town and are detailed below. Bedford-Euless Road • '/2 mile — Strummer to Boulevard 26 March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 4 • Asphalt to concrete, curb, gutter, landscaping and sidewalks • $3,415,000 estimated cost • While the north side has been updated to include art, sidewalks, curb and gutter, the south side still needs improvement. • Quite a bit of the city's tax base is located along this road (multiple restaurants) Iron Horse • Sandlin Homes converted a significant amount of industrial property into single family residential along Iron Horse. Prior to the redevelopment, much of Iron Horse was in disrepair, but significant improvement is still needed in certain areas as development stretches into the TOD. • 1.2 miles —York to Rufe Snow, Rufe Snow to Browning • Asphalt to concrete, curb, gutter, landscaping and sidewalks • $9,120,000 estimated cost Glenview • Just over % mile - Honey Lane to city limit • Asphalt to concrete, curb, gutter, landscaping and sidewalks • $4,515,000 estimated cost Glenview • Available funds from the 2003 bond election have been elected to use to repair the 1/2 mile segment from Boulevard 26 to Flory • Asphalt to concrete, curb, gutter, landscaping and sidewalks • $3,895,000 estimated cost Glenview • Over 1 mile • Asphalt to concrete, curb, gutter, landscaping and sidewalks • $8,410,000 estimated cost Mr. Wood mentioned that all of the roads listed were also heavily studied during the Long Range Plan Study that was approved by Council. Some streets are a redesign based on a detailed study of individual street needs. Mr. Hulse said that most of the streets have a profile based on the study mentioned by Mr. Wood. Many streets may have originally been built assuming a certain number of cars, but now that the city is built out, lanes can be reduced in some instances, while adding bike lanes, sidewalks, etc. Below are highlights of the May Bond Election: March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 5 • Early Voting — April 20 —April 28 various hours • Early Voting Polling Locations — Tarrant Co. Elections Center, NRH Library, Dan Echols Center • Election Day — May 2 - 7:00 am — 7:00 pm • Election Day Polling Locations — NRH Library, Dan Echols Center, Bursey Center Mr. Hulse displayed a map showing all of the streets that are included in the bond package. Mr. Wood asked if there is any concern that this would be the only thing on the ballot in May. Mr. Hulse said that even though Councilmembers are running unopposed, they will still be on the ballot. Mr. Wood explained that it may be a little difficult to get people out to vote since the Council race is uncontested. Mr. Hulse agreed and noted that the city will need to communicate heavily via social media, water bill, newsletters and city facilities. Committee members agreed that this bond election is a good effort and they believe that the bond will gain support from residents, especially with no tax increase. Ms. Monroe mentioned that she was a part of the bond committee and some members had asked why the city needed to finance through a bond. The answer is that a bond allows the city to charge the people who use the streets over time. When a resident pays property taxes, a portion of the taxes are going towards the streets, but when they move, they are no longer paying for the streets. Mr. Hulse mentioned that if you don't use bond capital, you can only do a little bit each year; however, that is not the case with a bond. 5. PROJECT UPDATES 5A. CITY POINT Mr. Hulse updated the group on the status of the City Point project. Details mentioned include the following: • 53 acre, $187 million mixed use development — Estimated 8 year build out, Centurion American (master developer) • 364 single family homes (zero lot line & townhomes) — $299,000 average taxable value per lot • 300 to 600 multi-family units — $125,000 average taxable value per unit, $1.55 to $1.70 rent per square foot • 60 - 70,000 square feet of commercial space — Retail, restaurants, service-based businesses • 100+ room hotel — Upscale brands and above March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 6 Mr. Hulse shared a site plan of the property detailing the layout of the lots and areas of the development. He also displayed elevations of homes and renderings of the residential and commercial spaces. He reminded the group that the developer, Centurion American, has worked with many communities in north Texas. Latest City Point developments include: • March 2019 —AG Spanos began construction on 270 multi-family units • December 2019 - $11.6 million in private activity bonds issued for public infrastructure • January & February - Preliminary plats approved for all 3 sectors • March - Civil plans nearing approval Upcoming Activities • April — Groundbreaking event, horizontal development to proceed Noteworthy Updates • CB Jeni Homes under contract for townhomes • The NRP Group under contract for multi-family Mr. Hulse let Mr. Deno know that North Hills Hospital and the entire medical area is a tremendous strength of the site and this was communicated during his various meetings with developers over the past several years. 5B. TEXRAIL & TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT Mr. Hulse updated the group about TEXRail, summarizing the following activity that occurred over the past year: • January 2019 — Service began with stops/arrivals every 60 minutes in each direction (48 trips) • March 2019 —ZIPZONE, a first/last mile shuttle is introduced (Mercantile station only) • July 2019 — Stops/arrivals increased to every 30 minutes during peak hours (73 trips) • September 2019 — DART broke ground on Silver Line connecting TEXRail via DFW Airport to Plano • February 2020 — Federal funding approved for a 2.1 mile TEXRaiI extension to the Fort Worth Medical District. Mr. Hulse shared a map of the extension to Plano as well as the route down to the medical district. Ridership for the year was over 550,000 riders. Central Station, T&P, Terminal B and Grapevine all had high ridership, while Smithfield also indicated a substantial amount March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 7 of riders. There is still work to be done at Iron Horse, but with the development activity in that area, the city believes ridership at that station will increase. While projections weren't met, 2019 was the first year for TEXRail and the city expects ridership to continue to increase over time. There is currently a significant amount of positive activity occurring around the Smithfield TOD, including: • The Villas at Smithfield (Our Country Homes) is in closeout • A bond election passed, making way for Smithfield Elementary to be rebuilt (groundbreaking 3/17) • A new 10,000 square foot building fronting Davis is under construction, which will be home to Keyworth Brewing • Urban Trails and Hillside Villas, two residential subdivisions, are under construction at the corner of Mid Cities and Holiday Lane Mr. Wood mentioned that there is a significant uptick of interest in properties in the Smithfield area due to the TEXRail station. Activity surrounding Iron Horse Station includes: • Iron Horse Commons (both sides of Iron Horse Boulevard) has 160 patio homes and townhomes developed by CB Jeni and Our Country Homes; both are 2/3 completed • Iron Horse Heights is a 350-unit multi-family project, which will be constructed when there is demand 6. REVIEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MARKETING 6.A VIDEO SERIES — HOW A BUSINESS CHOOSES A LOCATION Mr. Hulse reminded the committee about the department's effort to educate residents about how businesses select a location. Many times, development decisions are confusing to residents, so the department is completing a video series that walks viewers through the process and explains various topics that impact a business decision. 7. UPCOMING EVENTS Mr. Hulse announced the following upcoming events related to Economic Development: • Friday March 27, 11:30am — NLF Awards Luncheon, Hurst Conference Center • Thursday April 2, 3:30pm to 6:30pm — SCR Commercial Trade Expo, The 4 Eleven, 411 South Main, Fort Worth, 76104 • Sunday to Wednesday May 17-20 — ICSC ReCon, Las Vegas • Wednesday to Friday June 10-12 —TEDC Mid Year Conference, Frisco Texas, Omni Frisco March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 8 • Sunday to Wednesday October 11-14 — IEDC Annual Conference, Dallas, Hilton Anatole • Friday November 6 — Heart of North Texas, NRH Grand Hall • Thursday December 3 — NRH Business Appreciation Luncheon, NRH Grand Hall 8. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Wood adjourned the meeting at 1:02 p.m. Mark ood, C irman Craig Hul , 8 cretary March 11,2020 Economic Development Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Page 9