The Festus City Council has given initial approval to sell a small tract of land it owns at the northwest corner of Lee Avenue and Veterans Boulevard for $135,000 to a St. Louis real estate company. The council voted 6-0 on Wednesday (Dec. 6) to approve the sale after the motion’s first reading.
Council members still need to have a second reading and vote on the matter before the 0.28-acre tract can be sold to BBA Acquisition (also known as Balke Brown Transwestern). The second vote is expected to be taken at the council’s Dec. 20 meeting.
City Administrator Greg Camp said he does not know what specific business will operate at the site, but expects it to sell “something you can eat.” He said he bases that assumption on other BBA Acquisition developments.
Jared Hancock of BBA Acquisition today (Dec. 7) confirmed his company is negotiating with a food service business, but said he could not reveal the company until a deal is reached.
“We plan on building for retail,” Hancock said. “We are pretty certain of a tenant. Our leading candidate is a food service that would be new to (Festus).”
Previously, there were proposals to build a Starbucks and then a Dunkin’ Donuts on the site, but those plans fell through. In June 2016, Dunkin’ Donuts officials signed a letter of intent to build a store there. However, within the following month they told Festus officials they decided not to pursue the proposed project.
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 for smaller pieces of property than on B-4. Later, Starbucks declined to develop the land.
Festus has owned the tract for several years, ever since the Missouri Department of Transportation reconfigured the Lee Avenue-Veterans Boulevard intersection and gave leftover property to the city.
Council members Gary Underwood of Ward 1 and Jim Tinnin were absent from the Dec. 7 meeting.