Stillwater business owner plans new restaurant for corner of Seventh and Main
Feb. 17—Another of the long-unused spaces in downtown Stillwater is being eyed for an ambitious redevelopment project.
Drew Williamson, who along with wife Constance owns and operates Zannotti's and Meditations, is planning to turn the corner of Seventh and Main into a new fine dining space.
He pitched his project to the Stillwater Economic Development Authority during a Monday meeting. Liking what they heard, city councilors, acting as SEDA trustees authorized City staff to work on an agreement to provide $1 million in tax increment financing through the Downtown Campus Link TIF District No. 3.
Williamson plans to turn the buildings at 622 and 624 S Main into a 5,000-square-foot restaurant with attached bar, a 2,800-square-foot private dining space, covered outdoor dining and four Airbnb apartments on the top floor.
Chief Performance Innovation Officer Brady Moore said the project has an estimated total development cost of around $4.5 million, which included a $1.6 million purchase price and $2.4 million renovation estimate.
Williamson said the building's basement area is a space that could work for overflow dining or be rented out for private parties.
It's an ambitious idea, that Williamson told trustees, began with a scaled down pitch to move Zannotti's across the street into a larger space.
"Once I saw what was there, I felt like that not only could we put a restaurant in there that would allow for a fine dining area in the city of Stillwater but would also complement the area and everything else that's there," Williamson said. "Why I'm here today, I could buy the corner building, move Zannotti's across the street, do exactly what I need to do to justify that — what I'm looking to do is really build out something that you could pick up you could put in downtown Dallas, downtown Oklahoma City, Kansas City and create a destination location for people that not only the citizens here but people that are coming to visit."
The TIF Committee unanimously approved the plan in January. Moore said financing would be paid in arrears. The estimated payback is 13 years. Williamson said his estimated closing date on the building is in September, and from that point Lambert Construction would begin renovation expected to take 7 to 9 months.
"One of the questions people have about tax increment financing and why we need it, they say, 'Isn't this stuff going to happen on its own without us providing financing?' I would point to this building specifically, as a very good example of stuff not happening," Mayor Will Joyce said. "For us to be able to step in and say we have some ability to do some tax increment financing and get a building that has been sitting vacant for 13 years and put it back into productive use on one of the main corners of our downtown area is a pretty darn good reason for me to say let's figure out how to make that happen.
"Having somebody who's got the experience and knows what they're doing to be able to make this happen is really exciting."
SEDA unanimously approved the decision to let city staff work out the redevelopment contract.
"It's cool so many of the proposals that have come before us come from our community, they're not coming from outside of our community," Councilor Amy Dzialowski said. "I think that's a really exciting thing to see you invest here."
In other city news
—Council approved Planning Commissioner recommendation rezoning of former Washington School to public
—Council approved Planning Commissioner recommendation Specific Use Permit for an animal care facility that would have conditional medical boarding
—Council approved City staff to hire a recruiting firm in the search for a new city manager
