Council approves restaurant, apartments, property sale

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite City Council approved site plans on a multi-family residential project during a meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 14. The project as proposed will also included a new coffee shop-style restaurant on the parcel.

The Boulevard Apartments Mixed Use project was proposed on a 1.97 acre site at 511 W. Mesquite Blvd in a General Commercial CR-2 Zone.

The project would entail a 3-story complex of 39 apartment units on the north portion of the property. The complex would offer five different sizes of apartments/condos from 1 bedroom standard apartments at 600 square feet up to 2 bed, 2 bath units at 1,100 square feet.

In addition to the housing, a 2,900 square foot restaurant with a drive through would be built along the Mesquite Blvd frontage on the south end of the parcel.

Property owner and developer Gary Cannon, who has worked in the Salt Lake City, Utah real estate industry for 37 years, didn’t get too specific about what the restaurant would be. But he did say that the restaurant would have a small town coffee shop, family-friendly feel that “is going to be very unique to this city.”

“It is not a Starbucks,” Cannon added.

The restaurant will be equipped as a meeting place for community business members. It is designed with a meeting room which could be scheduled. “You can even subscribe to a monthly membership where you can come in and do business,” Cannon said.

Cannon said that he had contemplated doing this project about 25 years ago, but it never gained any traction at that time so the idea was shelved.

“Now all these years later, I am closer to retirement age and it looks a lot more appealing to move down here,” Cannon said. “I am very anxious to see what I can make happen and what I can contribute to the economic betterment of this town.”

Cannon added that the proposed apartment complex was being designed to be pet friendly. He said that this would meet an important demand in the community.

Mesquite City Planner Richard Secrist said that access to the property would come from Mesquite Boulevard via a shared driveway for both the restaurant and the apartment complex. Another access to the apartments would come from the west off of Thistle Street.

The project would have a total of 87 parking spaces with 57 for the apartments, 11 for visitors and 19 for customers of the restaurant.

A full traffic study is being required and would have to be submitted and approved by city staff before doing site improvement drawings and utility plans, Secrist said.

“Staff recommends approval,” Secrist concluded. “We think this will be a good addition to the downtown area and a great use for that site.”

With no comments from council, or from the public, Council member Wes Boger made a motion to approve the request. The motion was adopted with a unanimous vote.

In a separate agenda item, the Council approved the final purchase and sales agreement with Hawaii Food Carts LLC company on three parcels of city land totalling 24 acres at the north end of Thomas Edison Court, in the Mesquite Technology and Commerce Center.

Assistant City Manager Martine Green explained that Thomas Edison Court is not yet a road and that the agreement has the city building out the road and installing water and sewer infrastructure to the lots.

Also, in accordance with a previously adopted economic development matrix, the cost on the three parcels would be discounted by 90 percent of fair market value in order to offer incentive for the new industry to relocate to the city. Green said that two appraisals had been done on the parcels. Taking 10 percent of the highest of the two left the purchase price at $67,500 for the properties, she said.

City Attorney Adam Anderson added that there were strict obligations placed upon Hawaiian Food Carts in the contract in order to be eligible for the 90 percent discount on the property. These include capital investment requirements, job creation obligations and a minimum hourly wage requirement.

“So it is not just, ‘Hey! you get this property at 90 percent off!’” Anderson said. “But over time, they have to fulfill their obligations. If they fulfill all of those, they get the lower price. If they don’t, then there are protections built in so the city can recoup some of those costs of the appraised value.”

Hawaiian Food Carts is a manufacturer of mobile food units, kiosks and food trucks. At full buildout, the company projects to employ about 35 people in the Mesquite facility.