Posted Jun 13, 2024, 4:05 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
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Owners of Gadzooks to open new concept in former Hance Park fire station
Slowly chugging along...nothing new being reported that we didn't already know. Maybe the fact that the restaurant will be open most of the day.
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...ance-park.html
Quote:
Poolhouse Group LLC, the Phoenix-based company behind restaurants like Gadzooks Enchiladas and Soup and the Green Woodpecker, will be opening a new concept in a former firehouse at Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix.
The firehouse, which was built in 1951 and used until the 1970s, is owned by the city of Phoenix but has been empty for years and has mostly been used for storage.
Phoenix City Council’s Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously approved a measure that would move the development of the restaurant along, as well as set aside funds to fix up the space before it can open.
The city proposed using $2.4 million to upgrade the building so it can be functional, including fixing the roof and putting plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems back into the building, Phoenix Community and Economic Development Director Christine Mackay said during the June 12 meeting. She said Poolhouse will then pay whatever it costs to build out the actual restaurant.
City documents show that Poolhouse will pay an annual rent of $128,250 for the 4,730-square-foot building on a 26,500-square-foot site, which is located at 1130 North 1st Street in Phoenix. The lease is for 15 years with an option of three five-year extensions.
Concept will be something new
The restaurant will be an all-new concept from Poolhouse, co-owner Aaron Pool told the Business Journal. With all the renovations to the building, Pool said it could be several years before the new restaurant is open and he and his team are still figuring out what the concept will ultimately be. But he said it will feature breakfast, lunch, dinner and a cocktail hour, and will be open pretty much the entire day.
The city of Phoenix has been trying to find a new use for the firehouse building since 2015. While other proposals have been sent in over the year, the Poolhouse restaurant concept was the first the city has moved forward with. Poolhouse submitted its proposal back in 2022.
Responding to Phoenix’s request for proposal and then moving forward with it was not an easy process and was more complicated than most of the restaurant openings the company has done, Pool said, but he is optimistic.
“It was a no-brainer because there's nothing like that real estate in all of downtown,” Pool said. “It's actually in the park where everything else has roadway between it and the park. The firehouse is right on the park. It just has like a big city feel to me.”
Pool is a father of two and lives not far from downtown Phoenix — he said he goes to Hance Park on a regular basis with his children. He said he’s always surprised by how many families and parents are in the park, and with so many other projects in the vicinity coming online in the next few years, he expects demand and foot traffic for the restaurant to be very high.
“Downtown is ready for something like this,” Pool said.
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