WS Chronicle

The renovated Union Station will feature an Elizabeth’s Pizza restaurant as its first tenant.

That was among several items that the Winston-Salem City Council approved during its Monday, May 21, meeting. Acquired by the city in 2010, Union Station will be a transportation center for buses, though it will not replace the Clark Campbell Transportation Center downtown, and the city plans to eventually restore passenger rail service to the former train station. Phase One of the renovations is expected to be completed by year’s end.

Elizabeth’s Pizza, a 30 year-old family-owned local restaurant chain, will be the anchor tenant at Union Station in a 12,000-square-foot space. It will pay $40,000 in equipment up-fit costs while the city provides $283,000 for equipment up-fits and to finish the space. Up-fit costs will be repaid in the first nine years of the lease term. The lease is initially for five-years with two five-year options. The lease is $12,000 annually for the first two years, $24,000 for the third year and $36,000 for the fourth and fifth years. For the first five-year option, the lease would be $40,500 annually and the second five-year option it would be $50,250 annually.

City Council members said that the incentives were needed to attract a quality eatery to an area of the city that has a lack of sit-down restaurants.

“Sometimes we have to get real creative and innovative and intentional about economic development in our community,” said City Council Member Denise “DD” Adams.

Also during the meeting:

*The Council approved contributing $2 million for construction costs to transform 1001 S. Marshall St. into a 130,000-square-foot mixed-use development for creative and culinary businesses and organizations. The project is by Beta Verde, Backpine Development, Cross Street Partners and JHB Development. The project is planned as a catalyst for investment in the area. Initial tenants include the culinary training program Triad Community Kitchen, GAIA Conceptions organic clothing, custom medical wig maker CHRISTALine Studios, Chad’s Chai tea shop and an entrepreneurship center from HUSTLE Winston-Salem. Sawtooth School, UNC School of the Arts and Kennan Institute are also exploring possible locations there. Council Member Dan Besse recused himself from the vote to avoid appearances of impropriety since his wife works for Second Harvest Food Bank, which Community Kitchen is a part of.

*The Council updated the hiring process for the director of Emergency Management to allow the city manager to recommend a candidate for the position that is then approved by both the City Council and Forsyth County commissioners. This update, which was passed by the county last week and is consistent with the legal opinion of the UNC School of Government, clarifies the hiring process and clearly places the position under the city manager. The change is needed to hire a new director for the city/county funded department, which has been without a head since Mel Sadler passed away in January.

*The Council approved naming the Public Safety Building after Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Burke and naming the Salem Lake Bait Shop after Quincy W. Stoker Jr., who was a longtime warden of Salem Lake.

*During the public comment session, Rev. Craig Schaub of Parkway United Church of Christ, Rev. Paul Robeson Ford of First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue and Kathryn Walton Ward of Working America asked the City Council to put its commitment to raise the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour by 2021 into a resolution.