Work resumes on Block 34
May 8—After a pause of about a year, work is happening on Block 34, the vacant, city-owned block in downtown Stillwater that sits just east of the Community Center.
It has also been more than a year since the Block 34 Trust — a group tasked with developing a plan for the block and finding funding to make it a reality — has met. But on Friday City Manager Norman McNickle said he had been told they're trying to get a meeting organized.
Trust member Jim Beckstrom recently told the News Press the group has been able to secure a big chunk of the funding needed to build a planned stage on the block.
The design the Block 34 Trust settled on includes a stage, a place for people to gather and some space for development in the hospitality realm, Beckstrom said. It's a model that has worked in other places.
The City of Stillwater had planned to remove alleyways and curbs dividing the block and then level the ground, install an irrigation system and lay sod in spring 2020 but all non-essential City projects were cancelled in the face of pandemic-related financial uncertainty.
The COVID-19 pandemic can be blamed for most of the pause, at least at first, City Manager Norman McNickle said. Once funding was freed up, he made the decision to hold off a little longer because a developer has expressed interest in Block 34 and is developing a proposal for the space.
He said he wanted to avoid spending an estimated $80,000 on improvements that might quickly be torn out, but the proposal is taking longer to come together than he had hoped it would.
He eventually felt the City couldn't continue holding off for something with an unknown time frame.
McNickle said he couldn't give any details about the proposed project, citing a non-disclosure agreement. NDAs have become a common practice in economic development, especially when proposals for commercial projects are being crafted.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Justin Minges previously told the News Press some NDAs are so strict they prohibit people from even discussing the existence of the NDAs themselves.
McNickle could say the proposed development would be along the lines of designs that have already been discussed with a combination of developed and open public space.
"It's pretty nifty," he said. "We're looking forward to the day the proposal is public."
In the meantime, Stillwater may at least have an open green field for gatherings before the end of the summer.
Twitter: @mcharlesNP
