A Franklin city board is favoring a plan to open a new high-end restaurant in the former city hall building and now plans to negotiate the terms of the agreement with the developer.
A committee formed to consider the proposals is hoping to reach an agreement with the developers by next month, said Keith Fox, a member of the Franklin Redevelopment Commission and the committee considering the proposals.
Earlier this month, the redevelopment commission received two proposals for the former city hall building, located at 55 W. Madison St., which has been vacant since city offices moved out in 2009. A previous plan to turn the 80-year-old building into a brewery and restaurant fell through earlier this year after the developer spent about $260,000, including $250,000 in tax dollars, to do work to the building, including installing new windows and doors, paint, roof repairs and brick work, but was unable to finish the project for personal reasons.
One proposal was for a café with gathering space for Franklin College students to study and residents to meet on the first floor, with small businesses, such as artist studios, a barber or a chiropractor, in the basement. That proposal, from former Franklin resident Daron Short, asked for $57,000 from the city board to do work inside the building, and also detailed plans to apply for a construction loan and a façade grant from the city-funded nonprofit organization, the Franklin Development Corp.
Board members had questioned how Short would be funding the $240,000 investment to buy and do work to the building, which Short said would come from investors and private financing.
The other proposal was to invest as much as $1 million in significant renovations and updates to the inside of the building to make way for a high-end restaurant with outdoor seating and possibly a retail space for the restaurant to sell items. That idea, from Madison Street Properties, run by Lesa and John Talley, asked for a purchase price of $10,000 for the property and a $150,000 grant for work inside the building.
The developers, who worked on the shopping center near the new Kroger Marketplace off U.S. 31, have a good track record for these types of projects, Fox said.
Fox declined to give details on what the committee and the Talleys are negotiating but said the committee was not in agreement with the initial proposal.
