07-21-08 Special Called Regular Meeting of the Development Corporation Board of Directors

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Report of The La Porte Economic Development Corporation - July 2008 www. LaPorteTx.gov Pictures Around Town Proposed Town Plaza at Five Points Special points of interest: . LPEDC Board approved Town Plaza and Gateway Enhancement as Projects on July 7 . Community Branding On- Line Survey Released Inside this issue: Inquiries and Updates 1-2 Board Meetings Staff Meetings and Updates 3 Training/Seminars 3 Development Activities 4 Meeting Dates 4 Prepared by: Gretchen Larson ED Coordinator (281) 470-5013 LarsonG@LaPorteTx.gov lopment Rep,ort Economi Around Town The City of La Porte Economic Development Corporation (LPEDC) voted to adopt two projects at their meeting of July 7. The first is a "Gateway Enhancement Pro- ject" which will involve the services of our community economic development partner, the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region, whose offices are located in the project area at 908 Main Street. Jan Lawler, Economic Alliance CEO, has worked to secure funding and support to assist the City in this exciting project. The enhancements will also include renovations to the City owned property at 912 Main Street. City Manager, Ron Bottoms, has stated that he is very excited about the possi- bilities that this project and the creation of a town plaza will bring to the Main Street Revitalization efforts. The "Town Plaza Project" was also adopted by the Board at the July 7 meet- ing. This project is located at the intersections of East and West Main, San Jacinto, and South Broadway, more commonly known as Five Points. A Plaza is to be created and is intended to be a gathering and meeting spot for the community. Features will include benches, a pavilion/stage area, green space, fountains and public art. The intent is to make Main Street a place where the community wants to gather to enjoy time with fam- ily and friends. The LPEDC Board will discuss the projects in more detail at their meet- ing on September 10. See the Development Highlights, page 4 for the many other projects and their status. Developer/Broker/Leasing Agents and Other Inquiries and Updates 2 · The Economic Alliance sent the following . leads: Proiect Griffith - a petrochemical firm wants to produce a manufacturing project to do small modular housing units for instrumentation. The company would like to lease a building and they expect approximately an $8M investment and to bring 75 relocated and 100 new employ- ees into the area. They would like to have their facility up and running by No- vember 2008. We provided a number of locations for their consideration. · Proiect Apple - a project related to work- force development and training. The . agency expects to select a suitable site within the next six month to nine months. They desire to have approximately 7 to 10 acres and expect a capital investment of $18M and perhaps 75 to 100 employ- ees to work at the location. Photographs courtesy of Kendal Larson - www.KendaILarsonPhotography.com The Greater Houston Partnership con- tacted us with the following lead: Pro- iect Petroleum - an international com- pany that is in need of a Houston area regional distribution facility for their fuel products. The primary product to be shipped is D-2 Gas (Diesel) Oil and the secondary product is Jet fuel. The stor- age capacity required is 1 m Metric Ton (equivalent to 7.2m barrels or 302,400,000 gallons) per month with capacity to increase storage up to 10m Metric Tons. We assisted a number of area small businesses interested in moving their operations with pOSSible locations that might suit their needs. We also sent out a request for the Somerton Plaza location next to Chili's on Spencer and provided them with updated traffic counts from TxDot.