The taps will remain dry at the former Yard on Mass for a little longer as Lakeland’s Community Redevelopment Agency weighs what it wants to do versus what action it can legally take to rent the space.
The Lakeland CRA received only two applications from local businesses interested in leasing the roughly 10,800-square-foot space at 802 N. Massachusetts Ave. during a Request for Proposals from July 1 to Aug. 15. The city’s selection committee was not keen on either application, and has recommended the Request for Proposals be reissued.
CRA Manager Valerie Vaught said the RFP went out to more than 1,100 vendors and received more than 950 pageviews.
“I think it was no secret this was available,” she said. “I individually received lots of individual emails enquiring about the space and opportunity to submit their proposal.”
Vaught implied it might be a result of the city’s difficult and challenging e-Procurement submission through the OpenGov program.
“The conception there’s only two and there isn’t much interest is false,” she said. “I think the challenge of requesting proposals through the city’s procurement process is intimidating, and I would give credit to the two we did receive.”
One proposal was dubbed a “Jazz and Supper Club” and the other under the business name, Enchanted Fairytale Hollow, a producer of whimsical events that until recently operated out of 214 Traders Alley.
Denise Gilmore, owner of Mary’s Bagel Cafe and the nonprofit Mary’s Pantry, stepped forward to say she and her husband, Mark Dornsauder, submitted a proposal to operate a restaurant with a jazz and blues lounge — not a private club.
“Instead of people going to Tampa to Eddie V’s or to Charley’s [Steak House], you would have that atmosphere, you would have that type of restaurant right here,” Gilmore said. “In that area, we have no restaurants there.”
Gilmore said she envisioned operating a three-pronged business out of the Midtown space. First would be the Blue Ivory Restaurant, open to the public and serving fine foods. The proposal called for investing up to $1.9 million to build in a second floor to the former food bar and construct an additional building, according to Dornsauder.
When questioned, Gilmore said she had planned a sample brunch menu and fine dining menu, including several cuts of steak. Desserts would include a number of homemade cakes, she added, as she’s been locally known for her baking well before opening Mary’s Bagels.
Inside, Gilmore said the second floor would become the Blue Ivory Ballroom as a rental space to host private events or weddings. Unlike other event venues in the area, the food would be provided by the onsite restaurant without the need to hire an outside caterer.
The additional building would be constructed to serve as the Blue Note Lounge, a separate space where live jazz and blues performances would take place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
CRA Advisory Board Chair Terry Coney asked Gilmore why she thought her concept for a restaurant and jazz lounge would make it, where the Yard on Mass had failed to see success.
“It’s all about advertising,” she said. “I do my own marketing. I do my own strategy, I do it all.”
The couple estimated they could have the desired improvements constructed in six to nine months, then launch operations. In exchange for their investments into the property, Dornsauder said they sought a long-term lease on the space.
Gilmore’s proposal for the restaurant and lounge was the top rated of the two proposals received, but scored a 55.2 points out of 100 by the city’s Selection Committee.
The CRA’s Advisory Board has a clear preference, but it’s not clear whether the new business proposal can move forward. Gilmore and her husband ranked highest in experience, but the Selection Committee was less confident in the proposed business concept and their capability to execute.
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“I can’t tell you if your business is going to be successful or not,” CRA Advisory Board member Lynne Simpkins said. “It’s up to you whether you are going to be successful. If you fall short, they don’t have to continue to lease to you. We don’t have to continue to lease, all the heat comes back on the applicant.”
Commissioner Guy LaLonde, who sits as the commission’s representative on the CRA Advisory Board, suggested he would recommend the City Commission begin the process of negotiating a lease agreement with her. However, the city’s legal counsel recommended against that.
“This information was not presented to the evaluation committee. To make a determination off of this would be legally problematic,” Assistant City Attorney Alex Landback said.
The second applicant, Enchanted Fairytale Hollow, was not represented at the CRA Advisory Board meeting. Vaught said it was not clear to her whether they were still an interested party in the space.
Not all members of the Advisory Board were in favor of reissuing the Request for Proposal for bidders, as suggested by the Selection Committee. Vaught said the process would become open to all interested parties again, not just the two original submitters.
“To open it back up for others when they have already been exposed to what the applicants are trying to do, I don’t think its fair to them. They did the work and they completed the application,” Simpkins said.
The documents issued by the Lakeland CRA do clearly state, “the city reserves the right to accept all, or part, or decline the whole…”The Advisory Board chose to table any further discussion of the former Yard on Mass space and what its future may be until receiving legal clarification. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 3.
“We may no longer be back,” Dornsauder said.
The Ledger has reached out in attempt to talk with Gilmore after the CRA meeting, but she declined an interview after speaking with legal counsel.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Former Yard on Mass remains empty as CRA tries to decide what to do
