Dunkin’ Donuts has decided not to open a shop on a small tract of land owned by the city of Festus.
“Dunkin’ Donuts is not coming,” Festus City Administrator Happy Welch reported during a July 6 City Council work session. “They did not give (the broker) a reason for declining.”
Broker Wall Properties of Denver had been negotiating with the national chain on behalf of Festus and recent reports about the negotiations had been encouraging, city officials said.
At the June 22 Festus City Council meeting, Welch reported that Dunkin’ Donuts officials had signed a letter of intent to build a store on an 0.28-acre tract at the northwest corner of Lee Avenue and Veterans Boulevard (Hwy. A), next to a Fazoli’s restaurant.
Welch said city officials would like Wall Properties to continue to seek a tenant for the property, but need to find out if the broker wants to continue working on it.
“We need to find out Wall’s position,” he said.
Wall Properties entered into an agreement with Festus in the spring of 2015 to attempt to develop the lot within 210 days, agreeing to pay the city $5,000 whether or not a developer was found. The broker negotiated with Starbucks much of the rest of that year, but Wall announced in fall 2015 that the coffee chain declined to develop the property.
In spring 2015, the council rezoned the tract from B-4 to B-2 while Starbucks considered it for possible development. Both zoning categories allow for commercial uses, but B-2 zoning allows for commercial uses on smaller pieces of property than on B-4.
Wall Properties next opened negotiations with Dunkin’ Donuts and was given a couple of extensions to try to work out a deal.
Festus has owned the tract for several years, after the Missouri Department of Transportation reconfigured the Lee Avenue/Veterans Boulevard intersection and gave leftover property to the city.