COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Agreements to cover a lease and a purchase option for the former Lefty’s Lounge property at 10 South Monroe were introduced by the Coldwater City Council Monday night.
The action came after it was learned a second offer has been made on the building.
City Manager Keith Baker said in a letter to the Council that Broadway Grille owner Scott Ladd wants to rent the property with the purpose of renovating it into a new bar and or bar and restaurant with up to two apartments on the second floor.
But Carl Thornton of Colon, who started the Broadway Grille and sold his interest to Ladd last December, expressed his interest in the property during public comments. Thornton currently operates Five Star Pizza stores in the area.
To see if there was anyone else who might be interested in the property, the Council agreed to have the two agreements sit on the table for 42 days.
Coldwater Mayor candidate Dan Corwin blasted city officials for not offering the property to the public. He told the Council they were “overstepping their bounds” and that they were “picking winners and losers, who can do what in this city. That has not worked well in the past and it’s not going to work well now.”
Under Ladd’s offer, he would pay $275 a month in rent to the city for two years while the renovations are taking place. Baker says the second part of the transaction would be an option to purchase the property after a bar or restaurant had been operating there for six months and at least $75,000 had been invested in the building.
The sale price would be $23,500 which is the same amount of money the city has put into the building.
Lefty’s closed in June 2016, blaming nearby construction for the closure. The city bought the property from the State of Michigan through its Property Tax Foreclosure Project.
