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Festival Marketplace Edmond. Photo Courtesy City of Edmond.
After a lengthy discussion, the Edmond City Council Monday in a 3-2 vote approved an amended and restated Festival MarketPlace ground lease with Lap 7 Development, LLC for development of a two-story building to operate a microbrewery and tap room along with ancillary food service uses.
Mayor Darrell Davis and Ward 2 Council member Barry K. Moore voted against the resolution.
In May 2023, the City Council approved the Festival Market Place lease for development of a microbrewery and taproom with Lap 7 Development, LLC., which is owned by Brandon Lodge. In the original lease, construction was to begin Jan. 1, 2024. Due to rising construction costs and financing, the project was delayed. The City sent a notice of default to Lap 7 Development, LLC in January 2024 and have since been working together to amend the lease.
The amended and restated lease includes the following changes from the original lease:
- Section 2.3 - Updates construction timeline, updates the building from one-story to two-story, increases the square footage of the building to 6,000 square feet and increases the construction budget to $2.3 million, and deletes the authority of the City Manager to approve a one-time extension of the construction start date.
- Section 4.1- Rent will be paid beginning on the effective date of amended and restated lease
- Section 5.1 - Lessee shall submit a Construction Plan to Lessor on or before Sept. 1, 2024, to include drawings, site plans, floor plans, elevations, and other documents illustrating, fixing, and describing the scale, size, and character of the Improvements necessary to submit a building permit application or as may be reasonably requested by Lessor.
The amended and restated lease provides that construction will begin no earlier than Nov. 11 without City Manager approval so as not to interfere with the 2024 season of the Farmers Market. Construction will be complete no later than July 31, 2025.
Lodge said his project is good for Edmond.
“This is good for the city, it's good for the Farmer's Market. It's good for attracting businesses and residents to downtown Edmond, and I'm ready to do it,” he said. “This will be a $3 million-plus project by the time it's done.”
Leana Dozier, Downtown Transformation Manager, said the City has continued interest in further activating the Festival Market Place in downtown to help accomplish the vision of the Downtown Master Plan which is a "healthy, vibrant walkable urban neighborhood full of people living, working, eating, playing, shopping, and learning."
She said the Festival MarketPlace continues to be a hub that provides public parking for area businesses, hosts community events such as the summer farmers market and also has public art.
Recently, the City moved its CityLink buses out of the Festival Market parking area resulting in an increased parking area for area businesses and community events.
Dozier said similar to the Railyard and surrounding businesses, the development will utilize the Festival Marketplace's public parking for its patrons. The addition of this development will activate the area continuously, especially during the months that the Farmer’s Market isn’t operating.
Dozier added the long-term lease with the City on this project is 25 years, with no renewal.
“When you're doing large-scale development, it's really difficult to get financing in place if you have short-term leases,” she said. “Ground leases are typically 25 years. So, it's not an unusual length of time for a lease in one of these instances.”
Mayor Davis expressed concern that the project which would be built on city property would cause headaches for the Farmer's Market, as well as concerns about changing the scope of the project from a one-story to a two-story building.
“I can't see in my mind how this is not going to affect the activity, not only what the Farmer's Market is doing right now, but any potential, other potential activities that are coming up from this,” he said. “Our horse carriages and all the other things that we're bringing downtown will be family friendly. And, so right now I am not in support of this.”
Janet Yowell, Executive Director at Edmond Economic Development Authority, told the Council she believes Lodge’s project is a good one.
“I just want to reiterate that when we look at this, this is exactly what we do in economic development. People bring me projects, people bring me retail ideas, and it is just the process that we go through to vet these things and to see if we take them forward or not,” she said. “I think this is a good project. I stand by the process that we went through to get us here. I think he has put his money where his mouth is.”