Downtown restaurant gets EDA grant
Published 8:04 pm Wednesday, January 8, 2020
The Suffolk Economic Development Authority approved a grant award Wednesday for one downtown business while delaying action on another.
General Public, a restaurant at 208 E. Washington St., will receive a $10,000 EDA Downtown Business Development Program grant to build out its bar and storage areas while creating the equivalent of three full time jobs.
The bar will be in the dining room area, and the grant agreement notes that General Public will build a 10-foot-by-10-foot wall cabinet unit within the existing storage area of the business.
According to Assistant Economic Development Director Gregory Byrd, the restaurant’s timeline to complete the work is 60 days.
“Having a bar area, they believe, will provide additional services to the community,” Byrd said.
Like previous grants that have been funded from state money, businesses have to complete the work before receiving the money.
The work is expected to be completed in March, Byrd said, and according to the terms of the grant agreement, has to be completed by April.
Byrd said a proposed $10,000 grant for The Plaid Turnip, a restaurant on 115 N. Main St., would need to be delayed due to what the city attorney’s office told him was “a couple of minor details we need to correct.”
“We’ll get those matters resolved and then bring it back to you at the next EDA meeting,” Byrd said.
The Plaid Turnip’s North Main Street location is closed temporarily for renovations, and for now has relocated to the former Mosaic Restaurant space in the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts at 110 W. Finney Ave.
Byrd said the Plaid Turnip plans to add an outdoor dining area and a delivery service while adding the equivalent of three full time jobs.