Greenwood officials are hoping to attract several more upscale restaurants to the city’s downtown and surrounding areas now that the they can offer an unlimited number of liquor licenses.
The city council has OK’d establishing a riverfront district, which opens the door to more restaurants and bars that want to serve alcohol.
Until now, the city had 34 licenses for restaurants and bars in Greenwood that wanted to serve beer, wine and liquor — the most desired type of license. All of those licenses had already been issued, meaning attracting new restaurants was a struggle.
The riverfront district includes the most developed parts of the city, including all of downtown, Greenwood Park Mall and the site of the former Greenwood middle school which the city purchased from the school district for future development.
Boundaries for the riverfront district are County Line Road to the north; Smith Valley Road to the south; Emerson Avenue to the east; and extends just west of State Road 135. However, it does not include all areas within those boundaries, just areas within 1,500 feet of the three bodies of water included in the district: Pleasant Creek; Pleasant Run Creek; and Jolly Brook.
Each new liquor license has to be approved by the city’s Board of Public Works and the state’s Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.
In a riverfront district, there is no limit on the number of licenses that can be provided, but city council members have said they will monitor it closely. The state will monitor it, too.
City officials have said they have no intentions of bringing more bars or a casino to Greenwood, which is a concern that’s been raised. They are looking for classy sit-down restaurants, such as steakhouses, that would serve beer, wine and liquor.
“I’m happy that the council sees the need for it. We’re already meeting with several vendors who are interested, so hopefully this will bring some new business to our area. A lot of that, though, depends on how fast downtown builds out,” Myers said. “This is the first step to attracting new businesses.”
Council members Mike Campbell, Ezra Hill, David Hopper, Dave Lekse, Bob Dine and Andrew Foster approved of the riverfront district. Ron Bates abstained because, even though he’s not in favor of it, he promised the mayor he wouldn’t campaign against it, he said. Linda Gibson was absent.
Council member Bruce Armstrong voted against the riverfront district, saying repeatedly that establishing a riverfront district would diminish the value of current licenses that are often sold for as much as $200,000 because they’re hard to come by.
“I will say again that I think the district is overly large and will adversely affect the value of current licenses in the city,” Armstrong said.
Interested businesses can get a license for $1,000, which is a fee paid to the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. The big difference between the new licenses and the established ones — besides cost — is that they would have to be renewed annually, meaning they do not hold the same value as established licenses.
