Year in Preview: Patriot Park parking lot

The decision process on developing a city-owned lot at 165 Oxmoor Road has been extended into the spring.

The city council did not accept either of the submitted proposals for the lot: a two-story retail and event space building or a food truck park. Instead, they voted on Dec. 7 to open a new request for proposals (RFP) for the property.

Council members agreed that they had concerns with both proposals. Most notably, they felt that the Grove proposal was too vague on specific design and tenants to merit its lower offer price, and the food truck proposal did not have proven commitments from area food trucks to show that the lot would not sit empty for most of the day.

“To ask the city to essentially give up $85,000 but not have a firm understanding of what’s going in it… I’m not comfortable with that,” Ward 2 Representative Vance Moody said of the Grove proposal.

“It’s just not a permanent footprint and that is a concern for me, but I love the concept, I’m sure a lot of you do too,” Ward 5 Representative Peter Wright said of the food truck park.

Bruce Limbaugh, the council president, was first to voice these concerns and said he would welcome more information from both developers. However, he asked that the council reopen the RFP, allowing the Grove and food truck developers to resubmit a more detailed proposal along with other interested parties.

“[I] would like to talk about concerns individually and let these two and anyone else bring a proposal one more time,” Limbaugh said. “I think we get one opportunity to get this right.”

Council members at the work session agreed that the lot should be seen as a cornerstone of the larger West Homewood redevelopment, and a development should be carefully considered. They also said that redevelopment interest from Corky Bell, one of the neighboring properties, could change their final decision.

Jim Terry of Evan Terry Associates was at the meeting representing Corky Bell. He said that while the dance studio wants to remain in its location, they had spoken with Sonya DiCarlo and Paula Harris, the Grove developers, and considered plans to redesign their property to be cohesive with the Grove building and West Homewood overall.

Terry said Corky Bell has five different potential plans so far, though they are not ready to be shared publicly. This is partly because of potential conflicts with West Homewood’s zoning ordinance and also because, Terry said, they felt that the redevelopment should be done in phases rather than all at once.

DiCarlo and food truck park developer Tom Walker attended the meeting. DiCarlo said she felt that the city should have asked the current proposals for clarifications to address their concerns first rather than reopen for new proposals.

Proposals for the site are due by Feb. 15. Limbaugh said that the council has no specific timeline to decide after Feb. 15 but will “move fairly quickly” to make a decision.

Walker said after the meeting that he intends to meet with the council to understand their complaints before resubmitting with the new RFP for the food truck park. DiCarlo did not state whether she and Harris intend to resubmit the Grove proposal.