Sent: Friday, September 2, 2011 7:58:43 PM
Subject: Concern with Dollar General Store in Maple Street Summerlake Subdivision
To Whom It May Concern:
The purpose of this e-mail is to address a major
concern with an upcoming new development at the Maple Street Summerlake
community in Alexandria Kentucky. As you may or may not be aware the
land owner, Brandon Bray, who sits as an active HOA board member sold a
piece of property at the entrance to the community to Dollar General
Inc. What this means is that if all goes as planned, the new face of the
Summerlake community will be a Dollar General store and not the
beautiful homes and community that will sit adjacent and behind the
building.
The group consensus from the home owners is
that having Dollar General as the "anchor" to our subdivision will most
likely decrease our property values. If our property values do decrease
then it would be a safe assumption that the price points at which
Fischer will be able to sell the remaining approximately 90 plots would
also need to be adjusted in a downward position or would reduce the
number of sales per year if Fischer chooses to keep the prices of these
homes the same. Simple math indicates that if the average home sale in
this community is $170,000 and price points have to be pushed down 10%
to meet sales goals, this would equate to an approximate 1.53 million
dollar hit on Fischer’s sales revenue over the next 5-10 years as you
sell the remaining 90 lots. Keep in mind this information is based on
estimates and not factual data but are intended to demonstrate an
impact. In addition to the property value concern, there are also the
implications of increased auto traffic around small children. I know
that Fischer uses the “nice, safe, friendly community” as a key selling point.
This issue was addressed on 8/30/11
at the Annual HOA shareholders meeting where your sales coordinator, I
believe his name is Brian Johnson, who also sits on the HOA board stated
that having this Dollar General would be a positive impact to the
community and would be a positive impact to Fischer Homes. He went as
far as to say he was excited about the increase foot traffic to the
model home it would bring. I asked Mr. Johnson if Fischer had performed
any type of due diligence or market analysis on how this transaction
would affect Fischer’s future sales and he stated your company had not.
I am concerned why Fischer Homes has not taken a
greater interest in this development and why your company would not
conduct an analysis of the impact of this sale to protect your
interests. If you have been unaware up to this point then I challenge
you as the Executive Management Team to undertake this task and have
this analysis performed in an expeditious manner as time is ticking. If
my assumptions are correct or at least in the same ball park, I would
then anticipate Fischer would want to use any leverage and influence it
has on the land owner, Dollar General and the City of Alexandria to stop
this from happening.
Last, to try to calm the homeowner’s fears, the
land owner, Mr. Bray and other board members stated that this would be a
nicer Dollar General and that promises have been made by Dollar General
to keep the property in good condition. Yes, I am sure at first this
will be a nicer than usual Dollar General but at the end of the day it
is still a Dollar General. Is Fischer willing to bet their sales profits
on promises and what if this Dollar General becomes unprofitable in 2-3
years and the store is closed. Who is going to deal with the now vacant
eyesore? How will that affect future sales?
I do thank you for your time and consideration. I would appreciate a call back to discuss this further and I can be reached at ###-###-####
I have also attached a couple of links regarding Dollar General that
would support the home owners concerns of the impact that Dollar General
would have on our community. I encourage you to look at the pictures of
other local Dollar General stores in the third link. Is this what you
want potential customers to drive past as they go visit the model?
Respectfully Submitted,
If our property values do decrease then it would be a safe assumption that the price points at which Fischer will be able to sell the remaining ... fischersafe.blogspot.de
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