One of Auburn's most well-known and most-visited downtown bars is likely to move locations next fall if the Auburn City Council okays new plans for a 18,000-square-foot bar and event space downtown.
The three-level event space, which has obtained an approval from the City's Planning Commission but still needs approval from the City Council, will be the new home of Quixotes Bar and Grill. The new bar and event space will be located between Moe's Southwest Grill and Pieology Pizzeria on West Magnolia Avenue.
The Auburn City Council tabled the approval for the new lounge and event space at its first meeting of December Tuesday night. The approval will reappear on the Council's Dec. 20 agenda, at which time the Council will vote on a conditional-use approval.
Quixotes is currently located half of a block north in its own building fronting North College Street.
Quixotes in its present form, which is one of Auburn's most popular college-aged bars, will close within 40 days of the new space's opening and no bar or lounge will be permitted on the College Street property in the future, according to City Council documents.
Planning Director Forrest Cotten said the owners hope to redevelop the old lot on which Quixotes currently sits, perhaps by consolidating the lot with surrounding parcels that house the University Inn and the Baptist Student Union downtown.
The new development on West Magnolia will primarily serve a bar, Cotten said, with the event space on the second floor serving as a secondary use most likely. Quixotes will normally house the 8,000-square-foot first floor and a 4,000-square-foot mezzanine level.
The first floor will have three bars and a dance floor, along with seating areas, lounges and a stage near the dance floor. The mezzanine level will overlook the dance floor and have a bar of its own.
The new bar and event space, which has been dubbed Oak Tree Corner in City Documents, will also boast several outdoor seating areas, balconies and patios that will overlook Toomer's Corner and the downtown area.
“We wanted this event space right centrally located to be another option and to be a great option for people that love Auburn, love the downtown, want to be kind of near downtown as well as right there across from campus,” said Chris Godbold of Oak Tree Corner LLC, the property owner, told The Auburn Plainsman last month.
At the time full plans for the lounge and event space had not been announced and Quixotes closing had not been finalized. Godbold is also a co-owner of Quixotes current location and a co-owner of 17-16 bar downtown as well.
Construction on the project is expected to begin over the break as classes wind down this semester, Godbold said.
“We wanted to make sure that we were sensitive to our neighbors and sensitive to football season, and so that’s why we’re not going to break ground until the Christmas break,” he said.
The parking spaces displaced by the project will be shifted to a new parking lot behind Quixotes on College Street.
City Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine voiced concern at the meeting over possible traffic and parking issues related to the new development during a discussion on a repair to the city's Municipal Parking Deck, which was also approved Tuesday.
"Obviously with the new event center, and I sat in the back of the Planning Commission meeting listening, parking is a real concern," Tremaine said. "I think it would be a great development downtown, but I think we as a Council need to look sooner rather than later at the parking issues downtown. I don't want us to set these businesses up for failure by not having sufficient parking."
The goal is to complete the building by fall 2017, Godbold said, but people may be able to book the event space as soon as the next few weeks. Price ranges for the event space are not yet finalized.
In other City Council news, the Council:
- approved a $17,500 agreement to repair the downtown Municipal Parking Deck, which city officials believe will need to be replaced within the next decade. Council members said they hope it will be replaced by a bigger deck.
- approved an amendment needed to enable a redevelopment of the Flint's Crossing to allow for a new Michael's and other new tenants. The development is home to an Earth Fare and Panera Bread at the intersection of East University Drive and Opelika Road.
- approved a use plan for a new three-story student-oriented apartment building on Armstrong Street southeast of downtown. The building is slated to house 14 bedrooms between two buildings.
Kris Martins, community reporter, contributed to this article.
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