Plans are in the works to turn the current Demorest City Hall building into Sweet Breads Cafe.
A public building swap could open the door for a popular Clarkesville restaurant to reopen in Demorest. Plans are now in the works for Sweet Breads Cafe to move into the existing Demorest City Hall building on Georgia Street. If all goes as planned, city hall will relocate across the street to the old Community Bank & Trust building currently owned by the Demorest Downtown Development Authority.
The Demorest City Council voted last night to have the city attorney draw up paperwork transferring city hall to the DDA in exchange for the old bank building.
Mayor Rick Austin says, “This transfer will enable the moving of city hall to the bank building and open the current city hall building for commercial use. Sweet Breads has repeatedly expressed their eagerness to locate in our historic downtown district and I am highly confident that the property move and the valuable addition of Sweet Breads to our city will occur.” He adds, “We are excited about the future possibilities and look forward to working out the final details.”
The DDA will hold a called meeting Thursday, March 5, at 5:30pm to finalize and accept the transfer of property.
The property transfer was proposed because Demorest City Hall has more commercial value and parking while the old bank building has a drive through that makes it more customer friendly for those paying their utility bills.
Sweet Breads Cafe was destroyed in a fire that heavily damaged several other buildings on the Clarkesville Square on March 5, 2014. The owners chose not to reopen in Clarkesville due to ongoing business disputes with Clarkesville City officials.
