Pictured, left to right: Demorest Downtown Development Authority Vice-Chair Mary Frances Fenner and Chairwoman Marcia Hallford, C. B. Henson and Lee Hull of Sweet Breads and Demorest Mayor Rick Austin.
At Thursday night’s meeting of the Demorest Downtown Development Authority (DDA), the City of Demorest moved one step closer to having a restaurant in the downtown area. It was a bittersweet moment for Lee Hull and C. B. Henson of Sweetbreads as today is the one year anniversary of the catastrophic fire which claimed their popular Clarkesville eatery. “While we are excited for all the new prospects in Clarkesville, we are excited for this new opportunity in Demorest,” said Hull.
The DDA agreed tonight to an exchange with the City of Demorest. City Hall will move into the former bank building on the corner of Georgia Street and Historic 441. “That building has an established drive through window and a vault and will be well suited to better serve the citizens of Demorest,” says Mayor Rick Austin. The terms of the agreement will transfer the bank building from the DDA’s ownership to the City of Demorest and in exchange, the City will lease City Hall to the DDA and “expressly provide” for the DDA to then be granted the right to sub-lease the building to a tenant. The rent generated would be designated to pay the remaining balance on the former bank building. At the meeting, the broad structure of a deal was reached, in principal, between the DDA and Sweetbreads to renovate and lease the city hall building. The explicit details and the final lease agreement will be presented at the next meeting of the DDA.
Mayor Austin expressed his desire to have City Hall moved by the middle of April paving the way for the renovations to begin. Hull’s plans are to have a creperie and coffeehouse with a bar. The exisiting back deck will be expanded to offer outdoor seating and a kitchen installed as well as a fire suppression system. While the wishes of all attending the meeting are to have the restaurant opened in time for Demorest’s Annual 4th of July celebration, Sweetbreads will be present in some form for the event.
Hull noted that many people advised him to take a year before making any decisions, the timing and opportunties came at the right time. “We took some time away and recently I have begun cooking at home, I am ready,” says Hull.
