Newly engaged couples and formal dates will have a new venue option for their special events next year.
A three-story event space is planned to fill in a gap in the Magnolia Avenue streetscape, sitting in the parking lot between the building that houses Moe’s Southwest Grill and the Pieology patio.
“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.
The project will go before the Planning Commission for conditional-use approval recommendation Nov. 10.
The approximately 40-foot building will include a 5,805-square-foot top level that includes a main indoor event space along with a patio overlooking the Toomer’s Oaks and offering a view of Samford Hall.
“We’re hoping to have a lot of weddings and formals at the building,” Godbold, who owns the adjacent Pieology and Toomer’s Palace buildings, said. “But we’re also going to set it up so it can have some smaller business meetings, and we hope that we’ll get a good response from the business community.”
The other two levels of the building will house food and entertainment handled by a tenant soon to be announced, Godbold said.
The official name of the venue will also be unveiled soon, he added.
Plans shows a 8,827-square-foot first floor with lounge areas and main bar with a dance floor in the back of the building.
The space will also have a 3,697-square-foot mezzanine level— with juliette balconies — that overlooks the first floor.
SR&F Architects, which designed Hamilton’s and Acre restaurants, designed the building for Oak Tree Corner LLC.
The project will begin construction 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 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 venue are not yet finalized.
The parking spaces displaced by the project will be shifted to a new parking lot behind Quixotes on College Street.
“Because we’re able to work with neighboring property owners and get this other parking lot opened up behind Quixotes, it will actually help parking around downtown,” Goldbold said.
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