Colorado City Seeks Economic Development Assistance

The City of Fort Morgan, Colorado has issued an RFP for an agency interested in:

• Developing an economic development recruitment strategy centered on an initial market analytics report that maximizes the retail potential for the City of Fort Morgan,
• A platform for developing customized reports and marketing materials

The chosen firm will conduct an assessment of the City’s market trade area and profile the customer characteristics, as well as the market’s climate.

PROJECT SCOPE

1. GENERAL:

The market analytics report/assessment for the City of Fort Morgan’s market trade area is expected to consider the following:

1. Economic condition
2. Unemployment, wages, area income
3. Number of firms by industry and size
4. Processes, capacity, and reputation of existing services
5. Population characteristics
6. Population size and growth projections
7. Distributions by age, sex, race, income, and education levels
8. By geographical sub-areas
9. Labor force characteristics
10. Occupations, wage rates, skill level
11. Location (local or commuters)
12. Under-employment
13. Physical conditions
14. Land values and cost
15. Condition of buildings: age, size, access, availability
16. Identification, assessment, and catalog of property sites in the City with retail potential.
17. Vacancy rates and absorption
18. Building and construction activity
19. Access and cost of capital
20. Transportation access: airports, rail, highways
21. Business climate
22. Inventory of existing retail firms and retail sales
23. Business taxes and regulations
24. Business services
25. Inventory of knowledge based resources
26. Industry incubators, colleges, technical training schools, etc.
27. Quality of life characteristics
28. Housing availability, conditions
29. Cost of living, average price of homes
30. Quality of public education system
31. Crime rate
32. Personal taxes
33. Target industry analysis, market viability, and identification of recommended retailers
34. Retail leakage/surplus analysis (Access to visitor data from credit card transactions)
35. Trade Area analysis with drive-time delineation
36. Competition and cannibalization reports
37. Retail trends and development in similar cities
38. Fiscal impact analysis

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Partnership: Maintain a national market presence and useful knowledge of the retail industry while providing ongoing insight into key industry topics via e-newsletter, webcasts, and other interactive tools. Maintain active contact with the Economic Development and Marketing department for approval and discussion of contacting retailers and on-going prospects.

Access: Access to deal making space to optimize marketing efforts at the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) annual meeting in Las Vegas, NV as well as regional trade shows.

Data and Platform: Provide access to data on consumer information (e.g., geographic and demographic variables) and an online platform that allows for mapping and aerial imagery (e.g., vehicle counts, drive-time areas, etc.) with ease of use for marketing  and development objectives.

Education: Provide education to elected officials and businesses on the benefit of analytic data and recruitment of additional retail establishments, including option for quarterly/bi- annual reports to City Council. Provide recommendations on addressing challenges for local economic development (e.g., rural geography and lack of property inventory).

Proposal due by September 30^th to:

Attn. Josh Miller

City of Fort Morgan

PO Box 100

Fort Morgan, Colorado 80701

Ogilvy PR & Weber-Shandwick are both firms with sizeable offices in Colorado.