Title
Bo Diddley Plaza Café Lease and Business Case (B)
Explanation
The Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was tasked with considering the Downtown Bo Diddley Plaza (BDP) as a whole and its potential to function as a successful, well-used public space. This process began with initial meetings with the Downtown Redevelopment Advisory Board and an extensive list of community stakeholders beginning in December of 2008. The redevelopment strategy has always been place-driven instead of utilizing a “project approach” in order to achieve lasting success; a usable space, not merely formulating a new design.
The Bo Diddley Plaza (BDP) construction improvements reached completion in early February; an initial pre-opening concert was performed as part of the frank conference on February 25, 2016 and the Plaza officially reopened for the public on March 1, 2016.
A major addition to the Plaza was the creation of a new café space that will be utilized to activate the northeast corner of the Plaza. At the December 2015 CRA Board meeting, Jan Patterson of “Patticakes, Inc.” was chosen as the top respondent for the new Plaza café space. Negotiations with the potential tenant focused on three areas: 1) interior buildout 2) leasable area 3) a desired year one rental rate of $1,300.00 per month. Staff consulted with CRE Property Tax Group to receive an opinion on a fair rental rate for the new café space. After reviewing the CRE report and negotiating with the potential tenant CRA and Patticakes reached mutually agreeable terms. These terms fall within the parameters of the CRE recommendations and include a 5-year lease that increases throughout the life of the contract. CRA staff will present the lease terms to the Board for review and consideration.
Through the context of an overall business case CRA staff will present an overview of how the Plaza functioned prior to the North Side Project, the changes made and how that altered the current financi...
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