The City Council recently voted to sign off on an intent to enter into a lease agreement for an eastern North Carolina restaurateur to become a future tenant at a vacant city-owned property in the 200 block of East Thomas Street in the Douglas Block.
However, the action did not occur without an extensive discussion by some council members about subjects regarding downtown revitalization and leases of city-owned buildings.
The vote, which was unanimous, was for Asif Daher to have a five-year lease to go into effect Aug. 26 at the East Thomas location.
The terms call for Daher paying the city a total of $42,000 in rent every year, with an automatic renewal for one successive five-year term and with the renewed lease increasing the rent by 5 percent to a total of $44,100 in rent every year.
Daher is going to be the occupant of what had been the location of the D Chill Spot Jamaican restaurant. D Chill Spot in late February moved to a location in the Oakwood Shopping Center in the Meadowbrook area.
Records attached to the agenda of the City Council meeting, held Monday, said that Daher owns and operates Bateeni Mediterranean Cuisine, which has locations in Greenville and Goldsboro, and Yaba Mediterranean Grill, which has locations in Greenville and Raleigh.
According to the documents, the location off East Thomas is being referred to as the Douglas Block Restaurant and the plan is to offer both a fast casual option for busy patrons and a full-service option in the location’s main dining area.
During the recent council meeting, Councilman Reuben Blackwell made the motion for action and Councilman Richard Joyner seconded, but before the vote, Blackwell said that he wanted to have a discussion.
During the discussion, Blackwell said that he is very excited to have folks interested in helping Rocky Mount to expand and grow downtown’s footprint.
At the same time, Blackwell said, “I’d like to see that same effort and energy and resources allocated to other individuals and efforts in downtown Rocky Mount and find ways to incent property, not just owners but the renters of properties.”
Blackwell also noted this in the context of many buildings in the heart of the city having been constructed between the late 1800s and the early 1900s and there being properties downtown whose condition has worsened.
Additionally, Blackwell told Councilman Lige Daughtridge, who as mayor pro tempore chairs the council work sessions, that he would like to be able to see in future council work sessions a discussion about having a robust program related to recruitment to and retention of what is downtown.
Councilman Andre Knight made clear that while he supports helping anyone who would like to have a restaurant or any other business downtown, he also would like to see that same energy regarding local business owners.
Knight spoke about a man whom he said unsuccessfully tried to get financial help from the city in preparing to open a future restaurant and comedy club downtown.
Knight also said that he believes it is “a shame” that the city can help businesses from outside Rocky Mount but cannot help local businesses.
Daughtridge said that he fundamentally believes the city should not be in the business of leasing properties but acknowledges the city does so.
Daughtridge said that the city has a history of leases that did not work out and that the city historically has ended up “eating a lot of expenses involved” regarding leases.
Daughtridge said that he was going to vote in favor of the item, but he requested that someone go through the lease agreements with the city and make sure that those locations are inspected on a monthly, quarterly, biannual or annual basis and when a lease comes to an end.
The council’s vote for the action was unanimous.
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