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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL#13501
<br />Retail Market Studyand Retail Recruitment/Marketing
<br />The City of La Porte is seeking proposals for a retail market study and services that
<br />will help us attract retail development to our city.
<br />BACKGROUND:
<br />The City of La Porte is a charming town of 34,000 residents located on Galveston
<br />Bay, just 25 miles east of downtown Houston. Our city offers cool bay breezes and
<br />sunny parks, with outdoor recreation year round for the entire family. Visitors and
<br />residents enjoy the skate-park, swimming pools (including our very popular wave
<br />pool), golf course, museum, and hike and bike trails, as well as our 28 city parks.
<br />The warm waters of Galveston Bay make us a superb location for outdoor sports,
<br />including fishing, sailing, and kayaking. Residents enjoy the laid back, quiet
<br />atmosphere and relish living in a bayside community.
<br />La Porte’sprimary economic asset is our ideal location for lucrative industrial and
<br />petrochemical manufacturing industries. Because La Porte is situated just between
<br />two major terminals of the Port of Houston authority and in close proximity to major
<br />railways, highways,and airports, the city is a hub for intermodal activity and a
<br />prized location for the manufacturing plantsof more than 100 multinational
<br />corporations, including LyondellBassell, ChevronPhillips, Air Liquide, Air Products,
<br />Dow Chemical, and others. The majority of the city’s industrial business is located
<br />in one of two industrial districts, where they enjoy a substantially reduced tax rate,
<br />access to local, regional, and state economic incentives, and freedom from
<br />annexation by the city.
<br />Because of the increasing growth in the petrochemicalmanufacturing businesses,
<br />the city enjoys a solid economy and low unemployment rate. But the city lacks
<br />significant retail development, and the dearth of restaurants, shopping centers, and
<br />grocery stores makes the quality of life for residents and visitors somewhat
<br />diminished. In a recent survey of our citizens, survey respondents were asked to
<br />rate a number of community features related to economic opportunity and growth.
<br />“Shopping opportunities” and “overall quality ofbusiness and service
<br />establishments in La Porte” were ranked well below the national benchmark.
<br />What we have in the city are 26sit-downrestaurants, 13 fast-food restaurants,
<br />three take-out pizza stores,three drug stores, one home improvement store, and
<br />one grocery store.We lack much more than we have—we have nogeneral
<br />merchandise stores (such as Target or Walmart), no clothing stores, no movie
<br />theaters, and no stand-alone coffee shops. We also lack significant meeting space,
<br />recreational activities, and entertainment options for young people.
<br />While the merchants we do have are patronizedby the local populace, they, too,
<br />would benefit from increased retail and even competition. As it is, most of our
<br />citizens leave the city to spend their sales tax dollars in the surrounding
<br />communities of Baytown, Deer Park,Pasadena, Seabrook, and Kemah, causing us
<br />to lose out on valuable sales tax revenue, and also the opportunity to attract new
<br />residents and businesses to the city.
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