Mayor Keith Corbett said: “The city needs to get out of this business. This is the developer’s business, not the city’s business."

 

The Marketplace property has proven a failed experiment over the past 10 years. And even today, the potential outcome is to sell prime interstate land to an out-of-town developer at a fraction of true market value (less than the city purchased the property for back in 2013). It is certainly not a good business decision and does not serve the best interests of the community.

 

In the meantime, private businesses and private developers have continued to build Brooking - bringing in TJ Max, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Hotels, expanding furniture sales, restaurants, and shopping options, and continuing to work to expand grocery and retail options. It is not the efforts of the city, but that of private industry that has been the cornerstone of success in Brookings.

 

The city needs to get out of the way as they have held this land hostage for more than 10 years with nothing to show for their efforts except expense reports. And now, it is again ending with another failed attempt to bring in the big box prospect they were aiming for. The land should have been auctioned 10 years ago. And while we cannot go back in time to fix the mistakes of past years, we can do now what should have been done then - auction the land and move on.

 

As a reminder, the story started back in 2013 when the city of Brookings took possession of this parcel from the State DOT for $1.41 PSF. Rather than following the traditional path of government disposing of property, the city of Brookings elected to maintain control of the land due to its ‘vital importance to the city’s development’.

The first attempt at development took place when the city partnered with a developer from Kansas City who was going to ‘bring retail to Brookings’. After paying $78,000 to this out-of-town developer, the land remained bare.

In 2016, the city took a new run at developing the land and accepted proposals from regional developers in a troublesomely quick time frame process – ultimately choosing Bender companies from Sioux Falls and entering into a contract which placed the city as a partner in this retail development. If you go back to the meeting in which the agreement was voted on, you will be reminded that it was not a positive experience for anyone:

Nick Wendell July 26, 1:18:38: “I was not real comfortable with the timeline. We were a bit flawed early on. It gave the appearance that we wanted to be inclusive of those folks that submitted proposals, but we really weren’t being inclusive because we did not have their full proposal so their term sheets did not mean a whole lot. I hope we do use it to inform our processes moving forward. Use it as a learning opportunity.”

In the May 10 meeting, then Mayor Keith Corbett said this: “The city needs to get out of this business. This is the developer’s business, not the city’s business. “

 

While no progress was made from the date of initial contract with Bender through 2023, per Benders contract, they too were eligible for three payments totaling $90,000. The first payment made when they held a town hall meeting… Ultimately they received payments totaling $140,000.

 

Now the city looks to enter into an agreement with Ryan and Co out of Minneapolis to sell the prime 10 acres of land for $1.40/sq ft. It is true to say that only the city could facilitate this deal as no private entities could reach into the citizens pockets to help make those numbers pencil out.

We have lost tax revenue, we have spent money sending city personnel to Las Vegas to recruit retail, we have paid for wetland mitigation, paid developers who yielded nothing. Now is the time to treat the property fairly, auction it to the highest bidder, and let someone do something with it. The city maintains a say in the development of the land as it is in a (Planned Development District) PDD. Selling it as a loss leader to a single entity chosen by the city is not the right way forward