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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - Economic Development Corporation - 2012 - 12/05 - RegularALLEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (AEDC) BOARD OF DIRECTORS REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012 Board Staff Guests Susan Bartlemay Harry Whalen Scott Sutherland Dan Bowman Joey Herald John Scriven Greg Kennedy Pete Smith Michael Schaeffer Call to Order and Announce a Ouomm Present With a quorum of the Board present, the Regular Meeting of the Allen Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) Board of Directors was called to order by Vice -President Susan Bartlemay at 7-43 p.m. on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at the AEDC Office. 1. Approval of the Minutes of the October 17, 2012 Regular Board Meeting On a motion by Scott Sutherland, seconded by Michael Schaeffer, the Board unanimously approved the Minutes of the October 17, 2012 Regular Meeting as presented. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the October 30, 2012 Special Called Meeting On a motion by Greg Kennedy, seconded by Michael Schaeffer, the Board unanimously approved the Minutes of the October 30, 2012 Special Called Meeting as presented. 3. Election of Officers of the Allen Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors Susan Bartlemay stated the floor was open to discuss and nominate officers for the Allen Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. Pete Smith said that the Board would need to make a motion to elect Board Members to the officer positions. On a motion by Michael Schaeffer, seconded by Greg Kennedy, the Board unanimously approved the election of Scott Sutherland as AEDC Board President. On a motion by Greg Kennedy, seconded by Joey Herald, the Board unanimously approved the election of Susan Bartlemay as AEDC Board Vice President. On a motion by Scott Sutherland, seconded by Michael Schaeffer, the Board unanimously approved the election of Greg Kennedy as AEDC Board Secretary/Treasurer. AFDC Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 - Page 2 4. Approval of Economic Development Agreement with Global IP Networks Harry Whalen provided an update regarding the Global IP Networks project. The client plans to purchase 5 acres of Peter Ng's land and build a Colocation Data Center. The client also wants an option to purchase an additional 5 acres. The plan is to build five 20,000 -square foot data center pods over a period of ten years, with one pod being built every two years. The client spoke with Dan Bowman and indicated that they plan to move forward with the location in Allen. The AEDC proposal provided an incentive grant of $333,000 upon the ground breaking for the first pod, $333,000 on the first anniversary and $333,000 upon ground breaking for the second pod. hi addition, the agreement would include paying one-third of the total rollback tax cost of $140,000. Scott Sutherland is concerned about heavily front loading the incentives and commented that the deal is too optimistic. Joey Herald agrees with Scott, but understands the marketing value of a data center campus and suggested waiting on making the third payment until the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the second pod. Michael Schaeffer recommended paying half of the incentive payment for the second pod upon construction and the other half when the second pod is completed. Susan Bartlemay mentioned that the AEDC is taking a risk providing an incentive for this project, but the biggest advantage is securing a quality business on Peter Ng's land and she feels the Board should move forward in providing the incentive. The consensus of the Board was to pay the first incentive grant of $333,000 upon ground breaking of the first pod, pay the second incentive grant of $333,000 one year later or when the CO is issued, and pay the third incentive grant of $333,000 in two installments (half upon ground breaking of the second pod and half when the CO is issued for the second pod). The Board also agreed to pay one-third of the rollback taxes, which are $140,000. On a motion by Michael Schaeffer, seconded by Greg Kennedy, the Board unanimously agreed to authorize the Executive Director to renegotiate and execute an Economic Development Agreement with Global IP Networks. 5. Approval of Economic Development Agreement with Bridge Metrics, LLC Harry Whalen gave an update on Bridge Metrics, a cloud -based internet marking firm. This company is planning to relocate from Frisco and is considering leasing 15,000 -square feet in the HIT budding with an option to expand into an additional 15,000 square feet. In addition to Allen, they are looking at locations in Frisco and Addison. The company stated they will employ 50 people by the end of 2013 and grow to 150 employees in three years. They would sign a 4 1/2 year lease and invest $75,000. Parking spaces are not an issue for the client at this site. The recommended incentive agreement is to provide the company with a $500 grant per employment position AEDC Meeting Minutes December 5, 2012 - Page 3 On motion by Greg Kennedy, seconded by Joey Herald, the Board unanimously agreed to authorize the Executive Director to negotiate and execute an incentive agreement with Bridge Metrics, LLC. 6. Convene into Closed Executive Session: Pursuant to Texas Government Code, Section 551.087: Deliberation of Economic Development Negotiations: To Deliberate Commercial and Financial Information and Economic Incentives for the Following: • Consider an Agreement for Pre -Development Services for Allen Central Park Reconvene into Open Session: The Board reconvened into regular session at 8:43 p.m. 7 Actions Resulting from Executive Session No action was taken. 8. Approval of the AEDC Financial Reports 1 Harry Whalen and Dan Bowman presented the financial reports. Dan Bowman referenced the Cash Balance report stating that the Acceleration Lane and KONE grants are expected to be paid in the next month. The Statutes grant payment will be coming soon. Pending incentive grant payments for Bridge Metrics, Global IP Networks, and Diversified Healthcare are anticipated in 2013. Bowman stated there is a healthy cash balance with the lowest point in the $4 million range. With consumer confidence in the market and retail attraction of people to Allen, sales tax revenue has exceeded the budget for the month and the year. On a motion by Greg Kennedy, seconded by Joey Herald, the Board unanimously approved the AEDC Financial Reports as presented 9 AEDC Report Regarding Administrative and Marketing Activities of the AEDC, Upcomine Local Events, Office, Industrial, Data Center, Retail, and Business Retention Protects Harry Whalen and Dan Bowman updated the Board on office, industrial, and retail projects. Harry Whalen updated the Board on his trip to China. While in Shanghai, several investors showed an interest in EB -5 and were interested in coming to Allen and Dallas. Whalen met with a former colleague and banker while in Seoul, Korea and learned about a large Korean population in Dallas that is interested in establishing a branch office in the Dallas area. Upon returning from China, Whalen went on a California Mission Trip to attend the Investment Management Network (IMN) conference. This was a data center conference with 400 in attendance that covered real estate and financing for data centers. Whalen concluded this conference was very beneficial and plans on displaying an AEDC Booth at the event next year. I [1 0 AFDC Meeting Minutes De, ember 5, 2012 - Page 4 Harry Whalen and Ray Dunlap, Executive Director for Fairview Economic Development, met with Yahoo site consultants. Whalen also interacted with sixty companies that are considering relocating to other states outside of California due in part to tax increases. Salesforce, an online data management software tool, will be implemented by the AEDC Staff and will provide a central location to record project information and contacts. The Applied Marketing Group will be assessing key target industries and will schedule five trips in 2013 for the AEDC Staff to meet with company executives and site consultants involved in these key industries. The Allen High School Football Game and Texas Stampede were two marketing events hosted by the AEDC to build and extend relationships with brokers, clients, site consultants and existing business leaders in Allen. Clients from Project Central Cap visited Allen for the second time last week. A site consultant from North Carolina and clients from Michigan are considering 915 Enterprise for their roofing business. The client manufactures a plastic membrane roof. 10. Determine Next Meeting Date — January 9, 2013 The next AEDC Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. 11. Adioumment On a motion by Joey Herald, seconded by Michael Schaeffer, the meeting was adjourned at 9-14 p.m. These Minutes approved this 6" day of February 2013. Scott Sutherland, President Susan Bartlemay, Vice P sident