Economic Development Board - Regular Meeting

Which I tried to get my entire family to weigh in on.

Thank you.

If we need to approve previous minutes.

We'll do that's item c. Okay. Sorry. We like to switch it up just to keep it lively. You know?

You know, we that's how it auto populated, so I just just went with it.

Just go with it. Doesn't matter.

Awesome. So Drug auto population.

I'm a have to turn it because

I got this. Okay. Alright. So good evening, everyone. So this is our 2025 restaurant and retail survey. The graphic that's displayed was also posted on social media, on the KIC social medias, and as well as the city socials. And also, this survey was distributed by communications through Keller Connect with the weekly newsletter multiple times. And this the purpose of this survey is to gather resident feedback, identify areas of improvement, and make some data driven decisions. Alright. So we'll start with the response demographics.

This survey last went out in 2020 and received 547 responses. So quite an uptick. We received 958 responses. The survey was open from January, just marrying the same time period as the last survey. In this survey, we did break down the demographics a little bit more, and they are pretty reflective of the current color demographics. 20 as you can see, 72% female, 28 male, which will probably be reflected a little later on in in some of the

That's reflective of our community? Well,

not the as as far as the age demographics. But not necessarily the gender. The age demographics, yes.

It's true for my household. I just didn't know if it was for everybody else.

For the age demographics, but not for the gender. But also 93% were residents, 7% non residents, and 20% of residents did also work in color. And 39% of non residents did work in

color as well. How does that compare to population growth?

Population growth as far as like the demographic Well, it's

the difference of percentage increase in the responses. So I said that's a 100% increase. Correct? Or pretty close?

Yes. I don't know. So it's been about five years. So So

maybe maybe there's just some people who are more interested

in We haven't doubled in size in

the end.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. What percentage of

That's something I can look into. I don't I don't have specifically, but I can look into that for you. Alright. So continuing with the response demographics, we did ask about children in that household. 54% said yes, 46% said no. And then as you can see, the age breakdown as well. Just give it one minute to see that. And then we're gonna transition into consumer behaviors. We added quite a few more questions than the last survey. So the first one, this was question eight on the survey survey.

How often do you dine out or order takeout each month? As you can see, two to three times a week led for both residents and non residents. We did break up the majority of the questions just just to see the comparison. And then, which type of restaurants do you frequently visit? So this statistic, we ask them for this question, we ask them to select all that applied.

So that percentage is reflected reflected of what they selected in their answer. So majority, pretty even for residents and non residents. Casual dining definitely stood out, as well as fast casual. Just pause me so everyone have a minute to review. And then question 10, we did ask, for respondents to rate factors when choosing a restaurant from most important to least important.

And residents did see food quality, price, customer service, and then location, ambiance last. The difference with non residents was the positioning of location and customer service. Continuing on with consumer behaviors, Question 11, how frequently do you shop at local retail stores each month? Pretty pretty much the same for residents and non residents. One to two three times a month. Led for both residents and non residents.

We're not Mhmm. You know, I know we probably didn't, but I'm curious if we have phrased this with a making it clear grocery stores didn't count as retail.

And and then in reviewing the survey results with Rachel, that's we did identify a couple questions that we can kinda specify or maybe with frequently put a specific number so it's a universal Yeah. Understanding of the question.

Because I I just think about my house and

Mhmm.

You know, I would have answered, you know, two two or three times a week. But if you then said, hey. Don't include grocery stores.

Mhmm.

Well, now you're going into the one well, you know, once a month kind of time. So I think it may change that a little bit because it this seems a little higher than I I used to probably have seen that I would have expected. Okay. And

then we did gather the perceptions of existing businesses, business conditions in color. So this was question 12. There is a well balanced mix of full service restaurants in color, and we split it up again, residents versus non residents. Residents did disagree at 45%, 20% neutral. Never satisfied. Non residents, it looks like 35% agreed, 24% neutral, and 28% disagreed. So a little bit more happy with the mix of restaurants and color with non residents.

Yeah. But I think the residents gonna be more likely to provide everything around. You know?

That's Yeah.

If you're a nonresident, you're traveling. Yeah. Yeah. And this was question 13. I can generally find what I want to eat here in Keller.

Residents disagree 45%, neutral 21%, agree 22%, nonresidents 35% agreed, 25% neutral, and 32% disagreed. And then question 14, I can generally find what I am shopping for urine color. Once again, residents non residents, that split, 21% agreed, 27% neutral, 39% did disagree, and pretty similar demographic statistics for non residents.

Mhmm. What's the comparable from the last time you visited this survey?

I have I'd have to pull it and see. I can I can pull it pull it up if we Yeah? Get the end.

To see a side by side if this is an increased in disagreement, or if it's just like a consistent

Well, the entire the entire survey would probably be good to compare side by side.

Yeah. The five year difference.

And we did add as you'll see, we did add quite a few more questions questions and rephrased them since the the last survey as well.

Yeah. So so that was that'll skew the results somewhat. So you you may not have the exact same questions for '25 compared to 2020.

It it just it did it didn't make sense. And then we also wanted to, like, to gather more data, so we we added added more and then we rephrase them just so respondents we could get a more accurate answer. Answer.

And the last one came out just before COVID. Right? Not

It it was at it ran November. I don't know the exact dates, but November, December, and then the results were Okay. Presented So you got it January 2021.

Yeah.

Well, that would have been in the middle of COVID. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Height of it.

When did say the results were this?

Well, they were

the January 2021.

So that would've been Yeah. 2020 would've been in the heart of it. Yeah.

And then question 15, Keller has a sufficient number of service oriented businesses. And residents, 26% strongly agreed, 48% agreed, 18% neutral, and then 6% disagree, 2% strongly disagreed. Disagree. Fairly similar for non residents with 32% strongly agreeing and 55% agreeing. And then question 16, there's a well balanced Did

we did we include a definition of service oriented businesses?

We did not, and that's one thing at post review that we wanna provide in the future along with the same with the the frequently having a defined number also specifying that grocery stores, but we did not include a

Do you think some people may have confused the services versus retail shops?

No. I

would I would think maybe not. I wouldn't assume they would. But because someone else possible. There is it is possible. But that's room for improvement in the future, to to give. I don't believe we I can double check, but I don't believe we provided a specific example, for service oriented businesses. Just give me all a minute to

kinda look at the results.

And then question 16, there's a well balanced mix of local versus chain businesses and color. Residents, 31% agree, 28% neutral, 31% disagree. Pretty similar on with nonresidents, nonresidents, 34% agreeing, 34% neutral, and 30% disagreeing.

Need to figure out who these 10 people are down here. They don't live here, but they strongly disagree with everything.

Yeah. And with nonresidents, the total number was 70

It wasn't now this was just of nonresidents.

So there was Yeah.

There was 900 total.

But 958 total, and then nonresidents were seven about seven percent and seventy one people essentially.

That's just one person that just doesn't like everything.

K. But we still care about them.

And nonresident is like take our service. Works

So yeah. So the way we split up resident versus non resident, we did ask to select whether you lived in Keller, worked in Keller, visited Keller, then and we did ask for the zip code. That was something Mary wanted to add in. I'm not sure if maybe they're just to make sure their results were as accurate as possible. And then we counted 76248, color ZIP code, and then 76262. Right. Yeah. And those were the only ZIP codes that we counted for resident responses. Everything else was considered nonresident.

Unless they live at the post office, which is the only address in Keller with 76244.

I mean, there were some responses that said they lived in Keller but had a different ZIP code. So that's why was I That we put that we put it in there so we could have accurate results.

So then they would be considered the nonresident? Mhmm. They're kind

of as nonresident.

Okay. So it's people that potentially think they live in Keller.

They yeah. They're we still counted them as nonresident. I got it.

Yeah. Okay.

And What's that? Okay. Community support and economic development incentives. I do not believe these questions were on the last survey. So this was question 18.

Which type of restaurants do you support recruiting to Keller? Select all that apply. So won't equal total a 100%, but give you a good idea of of what respondents are interested in. With the majority being local chef owned restaurants, and restaurants that are established in Texas with only a few locations are sparsely in North Texas. And then I know this question was not on the last survey that was given, which is importance of shopping locally.

And 51 said it was important. 31% said very important. So small minority that didn't think it was important. And this was question 17, and it the question specifically was, how important is it for you to shop local and keep your sales tax dollars in your community? And then for this question, we counted resident responses only. So we filtered out the non resident responses.

What's the difference between the two very important?

Very important versus just to give

a range because their plate's the same.

I just wondered if Which very important. Okay. Yeah. That is the error on our end.

Which for this Yeah.

So very the 1%, it should be very unimportant. We missed that one. Okay. So that's

that's same person. Yeah.

Except for this is just resident responses. We only counted that. So Well, then it isn't It the probably probably about 10 people.

Was there any distinction on the resident information whether it was, like, somebody that were these all homeowners, or were they renters as well, or was it just a mix?

We didn't grab that information. Okay. Yeah. But that could be something to possibly include in the future. And then question 20 is about retail recruitment. Which type of retail stores do you support recruiting to Keller? Select all that apply. And the majority were retail retailers that are established in Texas with only a few locations are sparsely in North Texas. Alright. I was looking to see if that same type of was on here.

Okay. And then question 19, how likely are you to support an economic development incentive used to attract a quality restaurant? And for this question, we only counted resident responses. So 30% likely 30% very likely, 47% likely. So good majority feel that incidents are important.

You say that Mhmm. And then come election time, somebody's gonna have to pay the piper on that. I mean, that's Mhmm. That's just the way it works in the city a lot of times. They they're very fickle about Yeah. How you give incentives.

It's always fun on paper. It's it's like in a Exactly. Mhmm. And then when you start doing, you start getting the suddenly

My tax dollars went to what?

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, then you may be you may agree with it in principle in general. And but it's that specific restaurant. Like, can't they do that? Yeah. You know? You get a I think you get a lot of that too. Yeah.

And then question 21, how likely are you to support an economic development incentive used to attract a quality retailer? Once again, we only counted resident responses for this question. And majority again, 25% very likely, 43% likely. 22% were neutral, and then the 10% that made up very unlikely and unlikely.

And at a city council meeting, that 10% would unlikely and very unlikely will show up where the other 68% won't when it comes to opposition on the incentive.

Alright. So this was question 22, a ranking question. Rank the types of development needed in color from most important to least important in restaurant, retail, entertainment, office, light industrial, which our focus is restaurant, retail, and entertainment recruitment. And then wrapping it up here, restaurant and retail request. So we we did a world cloud just to to give a a a visual of what respondents were most interested in seeing.

So seafood, steak houses, healthy options, salad. So you can see

each font size indicative of how many set that?

Yeah.

Yes. Okay. So

Yeah. I would kinda buffer that a little bit that it's not Mhmm.

A perfect ratio of

like a this much seafood and then just this much Greek. It's just more more replies to seafood. Mhmm. So they're they're not quite as extreme as it might appear. It's just rewarding there.

Well, because we're so close to seafood here.

I mean, we're right by the ocean, so we should be.

It's just easy to

do that.

Healthy options in salad did appear quite often on the survey. Italian restaurant restaurants with a play area, upscale Chinese, and then a mix of international and culturally diverse cuisines. Wide range, Indian, German, every every different type of cuisine pretty much showed up on the on this request. Just gonna give you guys

Yeah. I wonder when Campisi's is gonna come.

I'm not I don't I'm not aware what Campisi's

I just saw it on the left corner.

I I see it, but I don't I don't know what type of food.

Well, you see Evan g up there too, but look what's happening there. I'm just gonna say that for one

one time.

What are the responses for Yeah. F and G or restaurants similar to to F and G?

Well Mhmm. A lot of the a lot of the shame restaurants that are up there will not come to this area because of the demographics. Right. You know?

And that was another thing I thought was weird because it was the same thing with retail. They wanted more boutique stores, which really, you're not gonna bring in giant retail stores here. Just But there

was a

lot of giant retail mentioned. Yes. Yeah.

So same thing with the restaurant. They said they said they wanted more mom and pop restaurants, but, I mean, there's tons of chains up there. I just think that's interesting. It's it's a very astute observation, and and you kind of said it too with the incentive of we're okay with incentives as long as you're getting me exactly the thing I want. Yeah. Whichever one of those could be completely different. So unless you're unless you're going the next step saying, okay. Which ones? So can we get some kind of consensus of which ones do you really Yeah. What do you think you would support? So and then then you have a similar observation with the amount of people saying, hey. We don't wanna be a chicken place or fast food. And then you look on there.

There's a ton

of KFC is on there.

Yeah. KFC, Torchy's. I mean, they're they're the captain d's in the corner is always a few amusing to me because that's I haven't seen one of those made long time. Years. May as well be a tippets pipe.

I mean, wide ranges. I even saw Golden Corral. So a very wide range of requests on here.

When there was a COVID drop here

and not too long not too far back. Right?

That was our only COVID closing. Well, yeah, it was a COVID fountain. Yeah. So they they featured it.

And some that were mentioned a lot, HEB, HomeGoods, Belk, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Trader Joe's, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Target, men's clothing, women's clothing boutiques, sporting goods, outdoor stores.

I thought we already had two Targets, basically.

Whole Foods. Don't don't let logic in

the Okay. Sorry. How many targets do you need? The the the Targets aren't in our border.

Yeah. I was gonna say, it's about as close as you can get without being

Well, that actually being

that are like that.

Same thing with Chili's. Yeah. Same thing with Panera.

Actually I mean Guys, the the funniest one is the Coles. That is in our border.

That is in our border.

Okay. Yeah. But this is as a reminder to everybody, we're gonna do you one better. You have all of these places conveniently located at your home. You can shop all you want, have it delivered to your house, and

that's how we get

the sales tax. That's how all of that stuff that you're seeing up there, if it's not in the city, do not shop there. Just have it sent to your house for the sales tax. Yeah. The HEB is the only exception to that. With the rest of the all that stuff, you can have

And you won't see another HEB on this side

of No.

Tarrant County?

No. But that's an argument I've already lost with my wife because, I mean, we have a Kroger right down the street, and she'll still go to HEB. So they're they were they'll be expanding along There's reasons for that. Yeah. And they may they may and don't get excited because they there may be a day where they start going into more the neighborhood approach. Mhmm. But you're you're talking probably seven years away Yeah. When they finally get to that model. You know, if you go to the Austin, San Antonio, see a lot more of that, like

Small version like Walmart. Yeah.

Yeah. They've only bought it. More more local grocery, but it is don't stop doing groceries. I'm hoping that day is gonna be around the corner. We didn't want to have to go and try to shop at Central Market, but then we didn't want to go to Walmart either. So we're trying to split the difference. Yeah. Just give us your regular HEP. Just go to Kroger. It's good enough. I know. I said that, but whatever. Yeah. I lost that argument. Oh, yeah. I try and fight the good fight when I can, but it's not

Movie theater.

So entertainment requests, some of the top ones were bowling, top golf, football in all forms, the apple of chick chicken and pickle, live music, mini golf, Dave and Buster's, mini vent, comedy club, segregate, Cinemark, pinstripes. Just give everyone a moment to go look through.

Yeah. If only we could find the

right combo with those things.

Yeah. It's all about that. Mhmm. And we have a movie theater.

We have a movie theater.

We've got a pickleball that's also a comedy club. Is that something that you kinda combine things with?

Come up with a new concept? Yeah. Call it laughing pickle.

Oh, okay. I I

I got a million of those kind of things. Just keep me rolling.

You got you already said you may wanna trademark that one. Mhmm.

And then just moving on to next steps after this survey. Mary has left us, so have a new director at some point. So this will be a good starting point for them, for the city of color. They'll be able to evaluate the survey and the information, get it over to the retail coach to assess new leads and categorize which businesses are a match. And then, matched businesses will be added to recruitment list, identify potential sites, pursue contacts, and arrange site visits, which would be led up by the new director.

We also wanna make sure that we are promoting restaurants and retail that are in Keller. I know I saw a bookstore on there. Wasn't as large, but bookstores was one of the the request. So make sure that we're promoting the bookstores, let people know we have this here. Also, make sure we're we are doing the push for foodie favorites. So that is addressing, okay, these restaurants are here in color. Stop by them. So we are making an effort in that area, but just making sure on our socials and all of our marketing that we're really making sure that residents are aware of what is already here in Keller. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. Any

other questions or comments?

On the slides where you were they were talking about how people are driven towards restaurants when it comes to quality of food and price Mhmm. Maybe something on perceived value is in in between those two where you're do you perceive it as being, you know, a good value to you when you're eating there, be it a fast casual or even fast food

Mhmm.

Because that's a a pretty big key when people are choosing

what's expectation for fine dining, you would expect to pay a bit more.

Yeah. But you'd also expect to have the value be a lot higher too as well because that's what you're paying for. The other thing is I'm interested in finding out how many people actually cook at home.

Oh.

And see that that gives you the time. Well,

I I mean, I cook at I bring my lunch every day. So

Well, I'm now that I'm not running my own joint, I'm my wife's saying when's dinner ready? When she gets off work. So it's like but So gonna I'm maybe the next time we do this kind of thing and include that in there.

So I I wondered at the somewhat the other way, help me with this. How many times do you need to see someone at a restaurant to or I'm trying like I say, a individual household, how often do you need a frequent restaurant to keep the help keep them in business? I don't quite know how to phrase it, but we always see this request for restaurants. But at a certain point, like, are you just spreading the market thin

Mhmm.

Versus you need to keep you need to see so many people showing up. Mhmm. You know, that's always been my, you know

Perfect example.

I mean Yeah. How many are regulars versus how many are Yeah. Occasional diners. Yeah. It's it's

Well and I and I I tell this because of experience in the last six months in that. When we announced we were shutting down down the street, the amount of volume we did in six days was more than any two week to twenty twenty day period for the previous two years.

Mhmm.

Because people were, oh, you're leaving. You're leaving. You're leaving. And then there's people saying, well, why don't you do the Freed's Furniture thing and just say, oh, well, we're gonna stay open a little long. That's what I was because it's like You know? Rachel's over here

in the world.

Yeah. This is for seven going

out of business specials for last week.

But, you know, I mean, you get to a point where that's just not that's just deceiving the guest. But but, I mean, it's I've got my regular rotation I like to go to, and I support a lot of local restaurants. And I know a lot of people do that. But then when you have a new one come in, it's like, well, do you take away from your normal restaurant you go to No. Because try a

new one. Because if you are trying to cook at home, you you're not gonna do that as much. So you're gonna go and see, okay. What's Aquario about? That's pretty good. Alright. I like that. Alright. Or Mad opens up down the street, but I'm not gonna be doing that every other night. Right. I mean, it's expensive.

Well, I mean, a perfect example for me is I I love Lupitas, you know, or Lupes.

Oh, Lupes. Yeah.

But Mad Mexican opened up, you know, a a couple blocks down, and our favorite bartender from Lupes is working a Mad Mexican now. So do we go visit him and spread it thin for Mad for Lupes? You know, I mean, that's

just I just felt a personal connection with the guy from from Matt after talking to him because he's from Monterey, that happens to be where my family's from. So I was just like, alright. I'll try and help you out.

So yeah. It's it's it's valid.

One one one inch of butter burrito at a time, I'll try and help you. Yeah. But I can only do so much. Well, that's, you know, again, the importance of keeping in your color, and then we're trying to recruit, but making sure

Need to get some of these brainstorm ideas into the department. So when we ask the questions because I think those are good things to analyze. And you take our demographic and the two to three times a week that they say they're dining out. Yeah.

It seemed like the nonresidents were always dining out. Yeah. I think at least the residents said occasionally they were not. Not. Yeah. I think you I think you do see that, that the residents are not dining out as much as the nonresident. I mean, I also keep in mind, 93% of the were residents. So I'm I'm focused on the majority respondents then. I don't know how much it's skewed by the the nonresidents that are responding. But I and I guess my that's kind of my point. Like, how much when people are only going out, I say only, two to three times a week, is that enough to sustain all the restaurants where Well they they say we want them.

And it was saying takeout also when we were talking about not fast food, because I would definitely keep fast food out of that Right. Calculation.

I I think one other thing we need to factor in now that it's, you know, because of COVID is how many people use delivery service.

Yeah. Yes.

Mhmm. You know, what percentage of meals do you get from from delivery service from your favorite restaurant?

You you think about it, if this was if the last survey was actually taken during the height of COVID and this is kinda really similar, then maybe that did create that lasting trend and people just, you just send it to me.

But we never ask that question.

Yeah. Clean. It's worth it. I grew up in a restaurant family, and so I was always curious about you know, I would recognize our regulars, but I don't know what percentage that represented over here. Yeah. My grandparents were you know, they knew what to budget for. Yeah.

So I am a active family that I'm in that two to three, maybe four times a week eating out quite a bit. I would say, honestly, I think cost is another factor that when we are choosing where we're going, it's like and we eat pretty good. Like we were very adamant like we don't eat fast food. So we try to find that like middle ground and then once in a while we're doing like the nicer restaurant and sit down. But a lot of times we just don't have the time to sit down and like do an eat in experience unless it's like a quick quick in and out and go or we order it and then we're we're taking it to go.

So I think from that perspective, like, I could see definitely the aspect of meeting places that you can bring kids. I don't have smaller kids, but I definitely hear that a lot through kicking it. But I think the other aspect is there's not a lot of variety of, healthier options. Like, Jason's Deli is like our go to a lot of times too because it's like it's the healthiest and you can get it quick and go. So I feel like we don't have a lot of options in terms of that like middle ground where it's like you don't want fast food, but you don't have time to sit at the restaurant.

Like, we might like, me, my husband would, but, like, to take the kids and do it would probably never happen. But, like, I think that's and if majority of families are, like, we have small kids, they sit down, eat restaurants. They're gonna be a lot harder to go to just with the way the schedules are and then cost doing that over and over again.

Well, when my family was trying to work with a trainer workout, one of the things he was hammering was you gotta get a lot of protein. Gotta get a lot of protein. We're like, okay. Where can we go to do that? It's like barbecue joint. That's gonna be one of the most expensive things.

It is. It it is.

It's very with a family of four year, like, mean, it's nice, but I can't do this all the time.

Yeah. Like, our honestly, like and it closed the station. We went there. We frequented quite a bit and even like with teams, like with soccer and whatever because the kids could just hang out outside and you have the picnic table and like you could hang for a while and it's okay if your kids were kind of obnoxious because like other people's kids

were not so on top of

the table.

Yeah. But like going to F and G, it would be like me and my husband would go. You know? But it wouldn't be, like, necessarily something, like, with a group of kids or something like that. So I think where we're kind of missing the boat in Keller, where we have gone outside of Keller at times, is because there's not a good ride at that, like, middle ground.

But I thought that was one of the things that was supposed to come with that multi restaurant development thing. I mean, I thought that was what they were supposed to accomplish, have some common area to allow for kids to do that while you're also able to dine without kids jumping on your table.

Yeah.

Because, I mean, that did happen. I mean, a lot when I was growing up. It was like, if if you don't beat your kids, I think my mom's about to. So Alright. She's about to help you out if you don't get this

I'm I'm that woman because there's other customers there. Other people's kids, like, We

can stress out for the other customers because you know they're annoyed. That's that's gonna kill your business because so what do you do?

Yeah. Yeah. So I I find personally, like, it is hard, but we I mean, we support. We spend so much of our dollars back in Keller with what we do with Kickin' It. So it's just like, we always just will find a place, but that probably won't be the case for, you know, everyone to do that.

I do have a question about Old Town. And I don't know, like, if there's a way I chat with you separately or bring this to the table to see if there's a possibility about like, I feel like some of with the UDC with potential, like, unique options happening in Old Town, they have to go through such a process as opposed to, like, office and retail. And I saw that that's, like, kinda low on the totem pole of what people are looking for. That, like, in Old Town specifically, like I feel like there's barriers sometimes for some of the things that I have heard wanting to come in, but like there's I don't know what the full process is. I know there's some things there, but

I don't

know if there's an opportunity for us to maybe talk about any of like the areas that we have that are that have great potential for the types of businesses.

The last time that we went over to Cafe Metis, when we went down to make that turn on all of it, there was that that white and black building. Did did no one ever occupy that one?

We had somebody come in. Yeah.

Okay. They've been approved for it. Yes. They're coming in?

Okay. Yeah.

Because I thought I remember when we went through that process. I just didn't remember anyone actually.

It's kind of a unique pizza and microbrewery. Yeah. Really?

Mhmm. Interesting.

New New Orleans style pizza. I

don't know what that means.

I didn't either, though. I I

I didn't know that was a thing.

I've never tried it. I've been in New Orleans ons many a time.

I mean, I'm I'm familiar with Chicago, Detroit, New York. Yeah.

There's a lot of

other options. I'd rather have any

war ons. Coffee. Yeah.

No. It's it's regular coffee.

Yeah. It's

it's It's like it's it's about

the crust. Kind of medium crust. Yeah. It's So what's different about it? Is it

making Well, that's what I asked. Is it's kinda like pan pizza, but not as thick.

Yeah. It's

K. So Chicago style, but on the other side of the of The States.

Yeah. This is the version.

The other the southern version of Chicago style pizza.

Yeah. Not quite as the Chicago style, but I'm a big fan of Chicago style pizza. But Uh-huh. But they'll, yeah, they'll do a a brewery on the 1st Floor, pizzeria on the top. You can get pizzas brought downstairs. It'll be a limited menu, but it'd be a good location, and you can take that stuff to go and go walk over in a base park. It'd be we get opportunity.

Do we know what's going in where the old record store was? They did a really beautiful renovation there.

Okay. Old record. The one that just moved? Yeah.

It moved up to

Yeah. County County Line.

County Line.

I don't

know that

we oh, I don't think we know anything yet.

So I'm like They did a really nice renovation. Not that I know of. Yeah.

But I can look into that and see Yeah. Have an update in

the next They just they did a new renovation on it?

Yeah. Interesting. And it's interesting because they did, like, a really low fence. So I'm like, what are they what are they keeping in over there? Because it's like a medium sized fence. So I don't know. Was just curious if

I have to look into that.

That's nice. Yoga studio. Right?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They did a good they did a nice job, but I

Well, let's move along. Next item of business is approving the minutes, from the February 24, meeting. I'm gonna approve. Any questions?

I'm a second.

We have a motion to second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. And now we have a discussion on the city of Keller economic development strategic plan. Do you have something to add on that?

I don't. I can't I did share, the feedback that was received, which was Nate's feedback. And then what we start, starting with was recruitment the first one that we were Yep. Focusing on?

And I, I brought if anybody wants a copy of it, I I started a project, looking at, defining cities that were like Keller, across the country that had a similar population. Hey. Good evening. Similar population were a suburb or close proximity to a major metropolitan area, but then did not have freeways running through it, did not have resort type of of attractions, and or a body of water. I have to look back. I had, like, seven criteria.

Was part of it the average household income as well?

The I I didn't pull that up, but I did want to investigate that. That wasn't something that It's

comparable level as well.

Strictly at the Infrastructure. The the infrastructure barriers that because because color is kind of unique in some of our surrounding communities, when when we're trying. So I I now these may be outdated on some of the contact stuff, but if anybody wants to look at or divide any of these up, there were five cities in and around San Francisco that were very much like Really? Keller. But then I put those in gray because then that's not really like Keller.

Because San Francisco historically has been such a huge, you know Tourist tourist draw that DFW isn't necessarily like that. But there were a lot of other, other places that that were. And so I've got contacts and and websites and some of those things if anybody wants to to take them and look at them. Because when it comes to recruitment, I'm I was interested in one of our questions about things that were not, in our area. We said maybe just sparsely in Texas.

But, on looking at businesses that thrive in cities that are very much like us, that have some of the same challenges and barriers to attracting, some of the more popular things because we don't have the traffic counts, But the household income is a very important demographic when trying to attract somebody because that's what they're gonna look at. How much disposable income is there for us? So but if anybody wants to look at that, then I've got I brought some copies of it.

So Okay.

Any other input on that?

I was kinda curious. I know that we partner on, with other areas as far as the schools are concerned. Is there something like that for businesses where you can kind of pull your I'm sorry.

Your your draw together? When you say like the

Like other other comparable smaller communities in the area to kind of, like

We like our benchmark cities? Or Almost make it to where it's

like an association between those and us like we do with a

small more copies if we need

it. Yeah. I just didn't know if there was a way to do something like that to where you could have that draw for the businesses and say, look. It's not just gonna be necessarily in color proper, but it could be here, here, and here. And, you know, these are all within striking distance. Of course. Kinda like kinda like the way that you do with the school So our market area

is what you're talking about. Okay. From our economic development, I I don't know how we would approach trying to attract somebody to come close to us, if that's what you're asking, is how do we recruit? Well, not not to say

Or close. Or to say that you would additionally have these other potential sites that are outside of us that are near us as well. That would be a a comparable kind of community to Keller as well. Okay. I I I'm just saying No.

I understand. I love the brainstorming. I'm just

if you're trying to have more of a draw, but you can't grow the city itself anymore, can there be a partnership made with other, you know, medium sized, you know, cities to to try to leverage that? I don't know.

Well, I I think from a general perspective, that that makes sense. But when our objective is to try to attract more non property tax revenue, what we're trying to get is people that will spend money in Keller from that area and not just satisfy the desire of of our residents. I get that. But I think from our our purpose is to try to develop the the economic structure and and and infrastructure of Keller so that we are are enhancing that part of the revenue because that's what helps us keep property taxes down Right. Is that offset.

So I I'm and I don't maybe I'm missing the mark here with with what you're asking, but I think from an economic development board perspective, our focus is trying to bring, that those resources to Keller, things that would be frequented, things that we we would jump that number from two to three times a week using it to four times a week that we're using it, and that we're we're willing to spend money here instead of heading down 1709 or heading up 377 or down or out to Alliance, and and taking our revenue to those places as opposed to people bringing revenue here in Keller. So that makes sense or am I

Yeah. No. I I understand the ultimate goal is to get business to actually open here. Right. But I'm just trying to think of is there any other way to entice certain certain businesses to be able to do that. I I I don't know. I'm just Okay.

Curious. Anybody else? Any comments, questions, input?

Just observation. Isn't there a stretch of Flower Mound that goes all the way out

to 35? Yes. Yes.

So but that's that that that whole Western side of Flower Mound is about to explode.

Well, and that when that happens, that wouldn't be a good comparison for Kelvin because you're right.

There's there's

They already got zoning and stuff going on March and November it's November. Yep.

It is now. Yep. Yep. So

Yeah. And some of these communities like Fairfield, Connecticut, I suspect that, to your point, in terms of household income, there's gonna be a mismatch. Those are gonna be quite a bit higher in the house.

I don't know. Color has a pretty good household income. So I yeah. I I it would be interesting to see.

Yeah. And and to your point with the San Francisco area, Palo Alto is is very similar. The biggest advantage though for us to look at places like that is the tax advantages. You know, if somebody did a business here instead of there. Yeah. Or or expanded to here. But

No. That's a good point. And and and there's a lot of changes going on in that arena, especially with with migration that's coming to Texas. I didn't wanna leave them off the list because I agree with you. There are some reasons, that they might wanna leave an area like that or expand to an area like this from there.

So I didn't wanna leave them off, but I'm just cognizant of the fact that it's a it it is a different type of environment, at least in that, you know, that circle. Do you look around the city? I didn't get through my whole list. Yeah. So There's some there's some But like Olathe and that kind of thing, yeah, I I there there might be some great communities in and around Kansas City that we can look at. This was just my start. I didn't get through all of the cities. Just was collecting data and and starting to look at at areas and and I kinda started with out out in surrounding areas.

Well, this is good. I'm sorry Katie came in late. So if I missed the the setup for this, I apologize.

So just on on updating our, strategic business plan and and talking about recruitment and getting feedback into, our department to for to accumulate into our update of that.

The only thing that, kinda came to mind going through this is that some of the leakage that happens where where folks like my family have to go down 377 or go to Target or, you know, one of these big anchor stores some places that were probably have very limited options to attract like a big anchor store just from, you know, the amount of land that's available and who wants that in their backyard. But, in some, like, small cities, I think, like, the the tourist areas where I've lived in things, sometimes if you can get known for a certain thing, a district where there's a, you know, several small businesses that are collectively, you know, have that pull where people will drive to come there. It's kind of a long process that you can't can't build that up overnight, but that might be a strategy we could go towards to.

I know we probably

not gonna get the same tax revenue as, a Target, but you might be able to

But I'm trying to are

are unique to Keller that that we're trying to develop in that way.

Say that again.

I'm

sorry. I don't know which parts specifically of Keller we've tried to develop though. I mean, I know there are a couple, but Old Old Town.

Old Town Keller is one of them. Town Center was one. Yeah. We've got the the 377, that corridor that that we focus because there still is land available and and redevelopment that is available there. So we do have some areas that we can look at attracting, and I think that's what Ashley was trying to get at is not wanting to eliminate I think I'm understanding.

I'm a

I've got a note to follow-up with you, but seeing what we can do to reduce barriers to things Right. Wanting to come to Old Town Keller. And and I I hope that we don't have too many, but I'm interested in what she

has But I think it's that as well as what what Nate was saying is how do you highlight those unique pockets that we have Yeah. Because to really get people more excited about coming to

see them. Right. And and I know that we do look at leakage or we have in the past, especially with our outside consultants of of, you know, where is where is money going to out of Keller. And you don't necessarily at least this is my perspective. You don't necessarily have to have the big boxes anymore, and it's a lot of us for the same reason that Aaron was pointing out is I don't even have to go to a Sam's or a Costco, you know, and fight that crowd if I don't want to, if I already know what I want.

Because I'll just have it shipped to the house and and following the the the great admonitions of our city manager. If I need something, Sam's doesn't matter. If I buy it there or I have it shipped, no big deal. But if I need something that I know Costco carries, I have it shipped because then that sales tax dollar comes to us instead of Fort Worth. So it it does make a difference, but you don't necessarily have to have the big box to create a a critical mass of of diverse businesses that make you wanna go to that area.

And I think that's you know, with with Big Lots going out and with the changeover, that's another, you know, center where we're putting some entertainment in, and hopefully that brings people to that area to, and what's the term I'm missing out? We talked about it in a a couple of meetings ago, but, the the length of time you'll stay in an area. And you brought up for your family, if you can find a place to have four hours where, you know, you've got a family that you need to have kids that could do something, that can have an area they can they can be in, but you have You're looking for eatertainment. Eatertainment.

To hate. To see, something to do. Yeah. Kinda in one area.

Right. You ever looked at, like, Downtown Grapevine and, like, what

And that

have done? Or

Main Street Grapevine is I think, got a lot of what we wanted Old Town Keller to be is that small town Americana where you you don't just have the the accountant and the doctor there, but you've also got the the restaurant and the shopping and and entertainment. And but, yes, I think, you know, I think we do look at all of our surrounding areas pretty intently. I know Mary kinda took it personally anytime somebody decided to go to Grapevine or to Roanoke or or

Well, and I feel like what's happening over there too is they're getting priced out on the on the rental side of things, and then that potentially opens up opportunity for what we got going on in Old Town. And I'm just like, how do we incentivize that part? Or like, what can be done there? Like, for me, I I had rented for probably about eighteen years. I had always leased buildings.

And it was the that kind of drove my and it's incentivized me to buy the building in Old Town because I wanted to be able to have more control after COVID. Things just cross. Whether you own a building or, you know, renting, but when you're renting, the cost can really, you know, kinda increase, and you have no control over that. And so I bought the building for that reason that I just wanted to have more control of what was happening. And so like I have a set mortgage and I have my, you know, tax cost that can be a variable.

But overall, I can better like plan as a business owner when I own the building. So that's why I purchased that building. But like, I feel like there's so many potential opportunities for people to be owner operators in Old Town. And so what could that potentially look like for people that are getting pushed out that are established elsewhere? And I think that's that was big on the, on the graphs where it's like, you know, someone that was established somewhere in North Texas and then creating some type of opportunity there.

So what what when it comes to recruitment, and and that's that's a big part of what economic development is, what should be our number one priority? What

to to me, I get caught up in how do you identify the other communities that are on this? How are they how are they trying to market themselves? What is what is their what is their reason for being a destination?

So do we have a competitive advantage?

Well, if it's if it's Grapevine if I think of Grapevine, I think of going there specifically if I wanna tool around that area or check out the rail stuff or

I'm thinking of the water.

If you're going there for the festival.

Yeah. You know, it's those

it's those specific things that would be a draw there or, like, you know, Roanoke trying to market themselves with the unique dining shtick.

I get it.

But you also you also need to look at the pitfalls of what is happening in Roanoke too so you can learn from them because, you know, the shop shop is done and some of their other restaurants are done because they they they did a saturation, but they didn't take care of the infrastructure until too late. And now you have a you have an issue where you've got a lot of open spaces there. And and in all honesty too, we've got a lot of open spaces right up the street we haven't addressed or we haven't the the landlords haven't addressed very well yet either.

So I'm not advocating for reinventing the wheel as far as color is concerned. I'm just saying, what do we have that we could already

What's the differentiation? What's gonna be the best

thing we could we could leverage to to be an attraction Right.

I would

really focus on what we wanted.

I would think the difficulty too in Old Town is, like, especially with restaurants, and you could probably allude to this that I mean, they are older buildings, and so they a lot of them would have to be converted or invested quite heavily to make them viable.

Be raised from the ground.

Yeah. To be viable as restaurants. So how do we you know, how could that be a possibility down there with the current, like, infrastructure that is there? Let alone the, you know, parking and those things, but, like, the buildings itself. What can those buildings turn into to be?

Because like I was looking at another property to buy and it was just and just to invest in it, but then like the cost of all the different variables to get it to what it needed to be to even try to make it into a restaurant, like my only viable option was to rent it as retail. And as a landlord for retail, for small businesses, it's very risky because a lot of times they don't they don't last. And they're not so that's that's the other aspect. Think from a person that's looking to invest with the infrastructure of the buildings down there too. So if there's some kind of opportunity to help make a better

With with Old Town Keller, I think we have invested I mean, that's been a huge segment of our investment infrastructure wise of putting in place the things that would attract business, but that's a long term investment. That's a long term risk

for us. We just adopted the contract for Elm Street, which is the East side. Oh, the East Side. West has been done for several years. Yeah. The East is what we're investing now to see that substantially with the the Elm Street project.

And we've invested heavily in in Old Town Keller. And we're on the West Side, we saw, you know, quite a bit of attraction coming to that. But and I don't know that it really belongs under competitive differentiation. But coming back to Bob's comment, I I wanna throw it out because I this is a challenge that's very difficult to work on, but the landlord factor. You know, what how can we I'm trying to phrase this in a right way that would be appropriate for us, but how can we make an impact where landlords are concerned that can open doors for bringing the type of economic development that our community tells us they wanna see.

Mhmm. Because they've been and we've we've had even economics incentive requests come to us specifically related because the landlord wouldn't improve the property or add to the property what was needed so that they could come here. So I think landlord I I guess with that disconnect is Yeah. With the the disconnect is, Glenn,

it's like, you have this property. Why don't you wanna make money off of it?

So why

don't we help you do that?

Don't know how long it's been since there's been a meeting between Regency and Tavani on their two properties here in town, center with any of the city council or even the

I I I know Trina manager. Used to do a meeting

with We've we've met with them last month.

Yeah. Okay. I've to them.

Yeah. And how long it had been. Yeah.

Okay.

And they they brought some interesting perspectives. You know, I think you're actually alluding to some of the old town of, you know, the the retail component has changed in this world, and that small component has well, it used to be, you know, you would go shop to shop. That doesn't exist anymore. And so now they're just trying they're trying to get something to bring get foot traffic. At the end of the day, they're trying to get stuff in, and it's prohibitive when, like, hey. You you have an SGP for this. We go through these processes. And so

Well, that's part of why I I, you know, started this exercise, and I there's a lot left to do on that is to is to determine that. What what are what's creating thriving businesses in those communities? Have they figured out a way to bring that foot traffic? Because you're right. I mean, you look at malls across America Dying. Yes. Dying. They are. You know, people sad. We we don't go to malls anymore. And it it you know, you can call it what it is, but there's there's an Amazon mentality to where I can I can shop, you know, 350 different types of stores that carry similar type of products in a few minutes?

And So if we appreciate that people can have most things that they want shipped to their door, how can we make it more attractive for them to to skip that piece and actually go somewhere and something experiential.

I was like, it has to be experiential. And I think the other part right now with Old Town is it's very like, there's a boutique, but then because I get people that knock on my door all the time because we have a couple things on that street, and they're just like walking through and they're like, what is this place?

Yeah.

And so they're just like so I try to direct them where to go, but it's so shoddy and spotty where things are that like if things were like, say for example

Not shoddy.

Shoddy. It's

very spread out.

So there's

no synergy to build between it.

Right. Exactly. So if there was more synergy, I do believe that it would be a destination even if you had a whole street that was full of, like, the boutiques that you could pop through and go down. But it is very spotty.

But that's the thing is is in those different streets, you have the different appearances. So you may have something that's really super duper historic old school stuff

Yeah.

Or older or brand new, and there's kind of, like, a hodgepodge kind of mix to where some of those things are, how do you highlight those pockets and say, look. These are gonna be more cohesive in this area to maintain a certain general look or feel on this street versus this street is gonna be more this or whatever that looks like.

So just coming back to the focus, because I I wanna try to come up with at least two or three points for our update as it relates to recruitment. Mhmm. So taking those things into consideration, how how do we identify a priority for recruitment for economic development that we can promote? Because we're we're we're the the first point I put down is is highlighting our competitive differentiation. They're they're and and I think that all goes into it.

I think we could do more as it relates to Old Town Keller and and, and our centers that we have of publicizing that, you know, that that here's the opportunities that everybody can get, and we we do a pretty good job of getting our, our demographic, our statistics of what Keller is out there in the community. What I'm hearing here is we're trying to identify what can be that kind of a draw in this this kind of market, this kind of society. I think the

thing that I would say is, like, rather than having the the the surveys about what you want, it's like, what do you like? What do you already like here? What is it what is it that makes you happy to live in Keller right now?

And that was kind of the foodie thing on the restaurant side is Yep. Ranking what what you liked. But maybe we do one for the retail. Yeah. Because I retail is tough.

Yeah. And I don't know what to expect people would respond, but maybe if you ask that question a little more specifically of what is it that you like, what is your favorite thing about living in color or shopping in color, eating, what are your favorite things? Not what do you want or what, you know, could be improved per se. Just

Yeah. No. I forgot what I was gonna say.

Because you've got so many of those differentiating restaurants and and and types of, you know, food across the spectrum that everybody threw up on that board. But if you had a a food hall that had six or seven or eight and I I'll have to get the name of the one I went to in Columbus, Ohio.

But but you're talking like what Grapevine has developed. Kind

of. Kind of. But where you have the one I went to in in Columbus was an old dairy. And it was a three floor dairy building. And the bottom floor was businesses and office. The middle floor had, like, a brownstone walk up. This is just an example. And on that floor, it there was eight pop up restaurants that had a space that did about 20 by 20. And they had specialty foods in each one of them. And there was one main bar Yep. That serviced all of them. So you get a seat somewhere around that area, around the bar, and somebody would come and wait on you. But could get your food from any of the eight pop ups around there. And then the Upper Floor was a floor for events.

Yeah. We went to one in Little Rock very similar to that.

Yeah. I went to So What I was gonna bring up is, like, when I think about the restaurants that are successful, I mean, one that we go to a lot is is Jason's Deli over here, and it hits that mid to low level price point, and it's got this big open seating area. And people in Keller love to just get together and sit and talk for a

while. Yeah.

Well, that's the entertain the eatertainment he was referring to earlier where you can have a variety of dining experiences, but there's plenty of space that is the entertainment side of it that a family can go to and not feel like they have to keep a kid sitting in a seat

Yeah. Or or

not bothering the table next to you.

Yeah. Well, and and apart for the multi restaurant entertainment kind of thing, the the concept that we had talked about before, I I thought we had, at one point, had discussed the kind of setup where you would have multiple food trucks in a common area, which rather than being in indoors would be, like, as weather permitting, you know, if it's nice, you have that type of option as well. I didn't know if we got that

And far off that, food trucks are kind of a unique animal. And coming from my son-in-law for a period of time managed the Fort Worth Food Parks, both of them. And it's it's it creates challenges too for the the hall type of environment that they're talking about where you have things that are more consistent and and permanent to where you can have because the the place that I referred to in in Little Rock had had both had that shopping. Mhmm. And and being there created more of that foot traffic opportunity to go buy the other things.

Mhmm. Because you you were in a common area, and it was easier to keep track of your group or your family or whatever and, but have a chance to look at a shop or at least look in a shop that that that could help the retail side of it. I don't think correct me if I'm wrong on what you're thinking, but I don't think the dining experience is the tough thing to to create within that. No. Whatever It's the the others What

I was thinking about specifically is my oldest likes to go, like, to the trunk yard. Okay. So you got a big setup, big bar in the center, but you got a bunch of different food trucks around there. And there's an entertainment element to it because there's a little mini stages where you have guys playing music. Music. Yeah.

All of those things together

How old is son? Yeah. 26?

And he's a different demographic from the majority of the people that live in Killer, though, honestly. I mean, that But I but I like I I like the truck here myself. But, I mean, you have to look at I think the indoor outdoor aspect combining was a great idea because you have both. Yeah. You're you're taking care of both demographics on each end of the scale. Plus, you have that element of of the weather where you're, you know, you don't wanna

be out of the wanna You

don't want have

your hands tied if it's if it's cruddy weather. But I'm just thinking again, it's something you could do because that could be plug and play depending on the trucks that were involved. Mhmm. And then if you had it set up where there were stages at a venue, it could be something that didn't have to be 100% of the time, but it would be another entertainment option.

No. And and I think there's a good good ideas. I'm just trying to get us back to the the point. These are great ideas on how we can fulfill our objectives. I'm trying to bring us back to what should our objectives be in recruitment.

It's like, yeah, the three legs of the stool would be, like, the the food, the entertainment, and the the shopping. And then, you know, what because I because I'm going back to that thing of, you know, like, family, what would keep us occupied for in a certain geographic space? What could keep us there for two or three hours? I mean, we're gonna need we're gonna need some food. We're gonna need some snacks. We're gonna need, you know, some people might wanna go and do some type of an activity.

I think on the survey results, that's why Yeah. Pickleball hit so heavy on on the ones that we saw.

Yeah. And then gift shops. I mean, I

don't know. So let me let me ask you a bold question. It goes back to a

question I kinda asked in restaurants

with the entertainment. How many times a week are gonna go play pickleball? How many times a week are you gonna go to a movie theater? How many times so one of the things when we talk about recruitment, I think you have to go go slide over. We're focused on the the nice to do once you've recruited. This is if we can get at some point, you have to have people coming in to support these things. So what are we going to recruit? I beyond the restaurants and everything Yeah. It is what do we think is the what's gonna cause primary jobs? What is gonna bring in some quality foot traffic and ad?

Because that's that's a recruiting it's a recruiting discussion that's not been had at this table yet. We have focused on the the secondary and tertiary benefits of of a a bigger concept of recruitment. So to your question about Old Town, what needs to come into Old Town that's going to have people that then will say, hey. While I'm already here doing this activity, I'm also now gonna eat. I'm also gonna go listen to this, and I'm gonna go do these things.

That I'm I'm I'm guessing is also something you're trying to push us towards of, you know, as you look at these cities, what did they do well to help drive those things? What do we need to say, hey. We we were looking at Greenwich, Connecticut. What business model should we be taking from that and recruiting those so that that will then drive in an extra 50 people that help support this restaurant on a on a regular basis. But you're talking about a way to to create the draw as well as a certain amount

of time

that you expect them to be there to do not just one thing.

That's right. It's like

to to

And, well, that's the summary of what I I put as the second point is identify those unique opportunities that Keller can provide, that will draw people. Because you're right. We we we have to create a reason to stop and kill

her. Yeah.

We we have our traffic is not that bad. When you look at three seventy seven and seventeen o nine of going both directions, we've got pretty good traffic counts. The problem is when we look at the data, they're not stopping in color. They're going through. They're they're they're passing through, so we have to have a reason for them to slow down or stop here we're if we're going to capture that. So that's what I have as my number two, and maybe you've got a different way of putting that as a recruitment priority is is Creating destinations. It is Yeah.

Create or

maybe it is create instead of identify. But The

other aspect too is, like so I'm familiar with with I'm from Connecticut. So I'm from very familiar with Greenwich and Fairfield. But even so doing like a mix. So like you could even do an anchor of like a bigger franchise type to be in like a house. Like, I just came back from Austin Rainey Street. Have you ever been to Rainey Street? Such a cool street, but like those old houses, those old historical houses that were transformed into just really cool. Kinda like how our building looks where even our building would be an amazing coffee shop or something else than what I'm using it for. But because it's got like that cool outdoor space, but then a really cool indoor and people love the build they love the old houses. It's such a draw.

And we have people that come from all over DFW that rent our building, like, specifically because of look of it. So people love that old stuff, but what if you got an incentivize an anchor of a bigger name like a Starbucks? Because they I mean, I've seen Starbucks even go in houses. I know we have a Starbucks down in that area, but I'm just kinda thinking people are always asking about coffee shops in Old Town. There's not many. And, actually, Starbucks

have a Starbucks right there at at 377 Yeah. Good

example, but, like,

for example, it's like

a summer book. Summer book

is a better example.

Well, no. And and I think

Something like that.

You want the more unique type of coffee Yeah. But not Starbucks. It gets well known.

Okay. Yeah. Something bigger but that is a question. But that would be a draw where people would hang out at a coffee shop. I mean, you see how Summer Moon is. It's jam packed. So having something like that and then I think that would kind of bring in other things around it as you start to see something that's a more established business and a more established name. Not as big as Starbucks, but maybe, like, in between, like a summer moon or something like that.

And I

think I think, though, that if if you're trying to recruit for someone that you do have to have a few specific specific things that you want in mind that you want to be in that little ecosystem. If you're trying to set up a destination area, you're like, okay. I know we have this, but we want this, and this will complete our set. And then how do you

communicate chicken and egg problem. So it's

like Yeah.

You know? But so what would you put there instead of something that maybe has never been in business before or no one's ever heard of? They still have brand development to do all of that kind of stuff for people to even know that they exist as opposed to something like a summer moon that, you know, it's already got a couple. People are familiar with that brand already, but it's not as big as Starbucks. So that kind of, like, middle ground of finding something has that

its own following already

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna move us along here. I'm I'm gonna summarize kind of what we've had so that we can get it back out to everybody. But I I really want to define what our our objective should be in recruitment because I I think we keep slipping into a solution Yeah. But not what our objectives are. So

Well, I think the other thing you need to put there is you have to always keep in mind creating synergy where where all of those places can feed off each other. They just can't be individuals poking around. They have to be able to create synergy with each other. I mean, it gets back to and for the longest time at work, but but the you know, as demographics change, they so so does the business model. But you used to see where one restaurant would do the demographic study and then the next thing you know, everybody else is feeding off of that.

You have a restaurant row where you have the same thing with with shopping where it comes to, like, South Lake. South people feed off that demographic where they built there and they say, that's what I'm looking for. I wanna feed off that synergy. Or where my wife's company built Bob's Steak and Shop House in Grapevine and they also own Medea and they also own Widewood and they talked Tristan Simon into bringing in the Fireside Pies when they first they created their own synergy right there with those four restaurants.

Yeah. Yeah.

So we we always have to keep that in mind in creating the synergy. This is why I talked to him about the pickleball place going in Big Lots. You know, we've we've got the the the indoor putt putt golf going in right there. Put it put the pickleball place in an already existing building so it cuts their costs and and remodel it instead of building from the ground up. And now let's see about doing something restaurant wise in the open space a couple doors down. You've already got parking. You've already got all that there. You just have to create the synergy of that little space.

Good. Do we have economic update?

Yes. Alright. So this will be February's numbers. So 70 businesses in February. Lone Star Cafe on North Main Street, Gibson Family Dentistry on Keller Parkway, Alita Systems LLC on Davis Boulevard, Phoenix ABA Services on West Court, Mooah Integrative Health and Wellness on North Main Street, Sacred Ground Psychotherapy on Keller Parkway, and JS twenty Advicements LLC on East Taylor Street, which brings our count to 12 new businesses through February.

We'll do March numbers. We're working on those now. 26 c o's have been issued through the February. And then just another update since this was asked at city council was about Sweetfrog, and that c o was issued on March 20. And that will be included in next month's c o count and updates. Coming soon, tacos and tequila, they did apply for their building permit on February 6. So hopefully, that is gonna be moving along. And then

Where's that one going again?

I'm sorry.

That one I have to look that up.

Oh, yeah.

The Saturday's the time.

We'll do that for okay. Yeah. And then moving on to an incentive project. So Houghton Horns, they officially opened on February 21. Their concert season will begin in the fall, and they're working on the lineup for that now.

We've not started the reimbursement process since they're still completing their facade improvement grant. They're wrapping that those items last few items up. I guess for the weather landscaping, this is it's nicer weather now. So they're just doing that, and that will complete their FIG facade improvement grant application, and their deadline isn't until April. And we had mentioned the Tibani group meeting.

So we did have a meeting before Mary left about with town center property ownership, Regency Centers in Tobani. We discussed current leasing trends in the center and other projects. Oh, and there are other projects. Also, opportunities for collaboration on recruitment activities, challenges for leasing and tenants. Tenants.

We're continuing to see increased interest from family friendly entertainment users and restaurants. Now I need that I'm able to specifically go over. And then also, in the interim, Erin is handling recruitment activities related to those. And this also was update for council. We did the survey results will be presented at the next council meeting. I everyone wasn't here. Ethan Flanders, our new intern I don't know if everyone got a chance to meet him. He was at the last meeting, but we didn't officially give that update. He started, and he does have some background. He's worked with the chamber and has a little bit of a background in recruitment.

So he started late February. And then restaurant week, the latest update on that. So it'll be July 28 through August 3. Our next meeting, we had to we weren't able we wanted to meet before Mary left. It just the timing just didn't work out. So we rescheduled that next meeting will be April 7, and we'll finalize event details, and then we plan to open registration on the fourteenth, and then begin promotion to the public on May 1. On

House of

Orange, how big is that performance area they've got? Do you know what their capacity is, their seating capacity is for that?

It was over a 100.

It was 120, I thought, from what they estimated when when they because their retail area kinda folds down Right. And stores, and then they they use all of that area. So I thought it was a 120, but I'll have to go back and check.

Do you

know by any chance?

I don't know off the top of my head.

I just didn't know if I didn't know if they were always gonna have their performances in that in that area or if there would be a possibility of weather permitting, if they would ever do anything like a lawn type of concert or thing as well.

Heard anything about that. That could be something to ask about and see. But Future consideration

No problem.

I just thought it might be something nice if they if they had the desire or ability to do that. Mhmm. Because I think they have enough space around that building to to where they could've gone.

And then we have Bates Park there too. So interesting. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Then I'll take a motion to adjourn. Move to adjourn. Second. We're adjourned.