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REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 9, 2013
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<br />Aaron Perri: 12% vacant, 88% occupied for 1floor store fronts; and 74% occupied for 2 floor
<br />store fronts.
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<br />The following individuals spoke in favor of the bill:
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<br />Rami, I am sorry for you having to listen to the presentation one more time. We are located on
<br />1302 High Street that is closest to when Lincolnway and the Farmer’s Market. This bill would
<br />help us immensely. If you allow me I will just go through what we have been doing the last
<br />three (3) years. Maybe that would help. The building is 33,000 square feet of space, when we
<br />started the whole point was to see if we could do something that would be sustainable, but in a
<br />way, the people working there are able to keep sustainable. We try to keep everything in house
<br />and going steadily and growing slowly and getting somewhere eventually. We started our
<br />performance aspect 3 ½ years ago, since then we have 65 shows, 150 artists, local regional,
<br />national, international, we average about a show every two to three weeks. We have a theatre
<br />component, we have had six productions, averaging about in theatre for 2 ½ years, one every 5
<br />months. We have a gallery series, galleries that we opened up about a 1 ½ ago and have since
<br />had four (4) exhibits, two local artists, solo shows and one (1) international artist show and a
<br />community gallery which included the first members of the community to present pieces of art.
<br />We presently incubate six (6) small businesses, 2 yoga studios, a dance troupe, dance instruction,
<br />and coffee roasters and café, we also house our sister not-for-profit arts & arts education. We
<br />have eleven (11) d/b/a’s doing business as, paper makers, opera singer and there is community
<br />space for fund raiser for other not-for-profit organizations for schools, churches and have had all
<br />sorts of gatherings; three wedding receptions, two wedding rehearsals, and one wedding. The
<br />reason why this would immensely help us that we could put things into perspective with our
<br />concert series, since our inception, we have paid over $13,000 in permits and police presence for
<br />every show. Our offerings would expand greatly if we have the ability to offer alcohol without
<br />having to go through the arithmetic and people showing up to the permits etc. The other thing is
<br />that most of our shows are all ages; in fact all our shows are all ages. Our approach to the whole
<br />idea of alcohol is not really to open up another tavern or whatnot, but it is something that would
<br />give us more for what we need to do. Just by way an example we hosted green drinks two years
<br />ago, a year and half ago, we could do more of that if we had the ability to serve the alcohol. So
<br />we really like the idea.
<br />Christopher Huff, 1831 College Street, South Bend, Indiana, by proactively changing ordinances
<br />such as this simple (inaudible) which are based on what is basically solid business drivers and
<br />functions. We welcome and open our arms to yet an even greater variety of interesting
<br />businesses and interesting functions within our city center. Again adding more synergy to our
<br />community, so this proposal as I see is strategically a good way to keep the doors wide open to
<br />good investment downtown.
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<br />Daniel L. Gates, Jr., 1009 Lincolnway East, South Bend, Indiana & Michael Lochmondy, 22922
<br />Adams Road, South Bend, read a letter into the record: December 9, 2013, Councilmembers:
<br />We are here regarding our intentions to open a new business venture at 1009 Lincolnway East in
<br />South Bend, Indiana. I Dan Gates have owned that property since 2007 and operate Bridge
<br />Staffing, Inc. there currently. For the past year, Mike Lochmondy and I have been looking for an
<br />ideal location to open a winery in St. Joseph County. After hearing the news of the “Crooked
<br />Ewe” opening a microbrew pub at the previous VFW building adjacent to my property; the
<br />construction of “The Brick” across the river, and the location of the Farmer’s Market, we could
<br />not think of a better location than my current property at 1009 Lincolnway for our venture. Our
<br />vision will be to bring a positive atmosphere to the area and overall community. Our signature
<br />wines will be the core of our business. We do realize that wine alone will not appeal to all of our
<br />patrons and thus we would like to offer a selection of beer, wine and spirits to accommodate all
<br />of our guests. I would be looking to the City of South Bend to expand the current boundaries of
<br />the Municipal Riverfront Development District to include my property located at 1009
<br />Lincolnway East. It would be our intention to demolish the current structure and build a new
<br />facility on the site for our new venture. The planned building would be a two story with rooftop
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