The City of Wayzata had a Muni workshop yesterday morning. The dialogue between the City Council was one in which Muni operations could very well take on a two prong approach – a bottle shop and bar and grill at a yet to be determined location that is built and owned by the City, and an additionally bottle shop location at the Colonial Square Shopping Center for a boutique wine shop. The forecasted cash flow presented in this scenario to the Council by outside consultant McComb Group was estimated at $600,000 per year. That figure represents the equivalant of six hundred $600,000 homes paying about $1,000 in tax to the City of Wayzata. It is also double the cash flow the municipal operation currently brings in at this time.
Other details / points of discussion included:
- The tax advantages for owning the location the Muni is located at — no property tax
- The cost of capital being lower for a municipality to build the location versus a private development loan–about 2%
- The city doesn’t have to pay income tax on the profits to the State and the Federal Government
- The geographic monopoly the city has on the bottle shop that prevents other competitors from entering the market.
Additionally, the City is actively engaged with a commercial real estate leasing agent to negotiate a lease for a space at Colonial Square–although a decision has not been made as to the size of the space.
Other options are being explored–a bottle shop only, a combined bottle shop and restaurant, etc. There was discussion about building a parking ramp somewhere on Mill Street and adjacent to the new corner of Superior and Lake Street that the City will inherit when the intersection is redesigned. The parking ramp could or would provide parking for the possible new Muni location and create a higher value for the land at the intersection. Proceeds from the sale of the land at the corner could be utilized to pay for the parking ramp and or portions of the Muni construction.
What do you think the of the options at this time? Leave your comments below, and we will get them to the elected officials in Wayzata.
Additionally, you can view the information the Council viewed yesterday by visiting this link.
Stay tuned to Wayzata.com, you Muni relocation leader.
Now that Blockbuster has announced it’s closing of retail sites, it would be obviously the most highly traveled location for the muni./bottle shop. The neighbors are all retail and there would be no intrusions made to residential Wayzata. The location is central (no pun intended), and extremely visible. However, there is no accounting for which establishment provides the most revenue to the city, or costs the most to run, as all money’s go through the general fund. A boutique wine shop, close to Lunds would help control the size needed for the main building.