City planning commission endorses zoning change to let two old gas stations become restaurants

Two long-vacant, one-time neighborhood gas stations on 12th Avenue SE took a step closer Thursday to becoming new businesses - one a soul food restaurant, the other a chicken-and-fish restaurant.

By unanimous vote, the City Planning Commission approved a necessary zoning change to a mixed neighborhood convenience zone to allow Green Development LLC, an Iowa City developer that specializes in repurposing historic, underused buildings, to proceed with its plans to renovate the two properties.

The City Council also must sign off on the rezoning.

After the commission vote, Charles Jones, president of Green Development, said he hoped to have the two small buildings ready for restaurant use in two months. Three local businessmen have agreed to open the two restaurants, Jones said.

The building at 624 12th Ave. SE, expected to be the first open for business, has 800 square feet, and the other, across the street at 629 12th Ave. SE, has 700 square feet. The interiors will be restored in their original style, with limited indoor and outdoor seating,

As parking will be restricted to a few spaces, the establishments will rely on neighborhood customers and carryout business, Jones added.

He noted the restaurants will provide jobs within the community and have a “cool” factor by virtue of the vintage service-station architecture. Also, by offering soul food, one of the establishments will supply a cuisine that has been largely missing from the local restaurant scene, he said.

Jones was glad the roughly six-month regulatory process to get the plans approved was finally over.

“There've been a lot of challenges related to this project, unbelievably,” Jones said.

He credited planning consultant Richard Luther, owner of Creative Development Solutions in Cedar Rapids, for helping the project overcome many obstacles.

At the meeting, Luther provided the commission with a short history of the two small former gas stations, noting they were neighborhood mainstays before convenience stores became popular.

Scott Overland, a commission member, said the neighborhood is “on the rise” and the restaurant plan deserved support.

Thirty new homes have been built post-flood in the Oakhill neighborhood where the two former gas stations sit, Luther noted. One of the two, Oakhill Jackson Brickstones apartment buildings, is next door with 52 apartments, and another on Sixth Street SE will add 45 more.

A development across the street from one of the Brickstones is adding 22 more apartments, he added.

Dale Todd, project manager of the Brickstones, said he supported historic preservation and the work of Jones and Luther, but told the commission he wasn't sure the businesses could make a go of it. He also expressed concern as to where customers would park.