By Matthew E. Milliken
mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- An expected City Council vote on a controversial city economic expansion grant to a Fayetteville Street property owner was put on hold Thursday after the building owner said she was revising her plans.
"We received a letter from Mozella McLaughlin late yesterday afternoon indicating that they were going to be reconfiguring their development and re-evaluating their financing proposal, and so in essence, that means we will remove it from the [council] agenda Monday night," Durham City Manager Tom Bonfield said Friday.
That letter arrived at City Hall the same day that Bruce Bridges, the building's longtime tenant and the proprietor of the Know Book Store and Restaurant, received a letter instructing him to vacate 2520 Fayetteville St. by Dec. 31.
McLaughlin, owner of the property, has been working with city officials for months to craft an incentive deal that would enable her to expand and renovate the building. The deal ran into trouble when Bridges complained that McLaughlin's plan for a jazz cafe and performance space would coopt the most profitable parts of his business.
The two sides met with a mediator Monday and wound up agreeing that further talks would not be fruitful.
Bridges was optimistic about finding another site for his business.
"I have a loyal following, and I think I'll be able to continue if I can get a fairly good location," Bridges said. "I think my followers would follow me wherever I may go."
Mozella McLaughlin's son, Rocky Mount pharmacist William McLaughlin, said that his family will still upgrade the building and still wants city financial assistance.
"We are determined to do this project," McLaughlin said. "We are going to remodel this building and we are going to create this cultural center."
But the business prospectus has changed, with the space once allocated to the Know being allotted to an art gallery instead. The McLaughlins are also dropping plans for a rooftop garden bistro.
Other components in the plan -- the jazz cafe, multipurpose room/neighborhood arts center, and gift shop -- remain intact, McLaughlin said.
Unsurprisingly, the men had different views on what led to the split.
Bridges praised his landlady for keeping his rent low. "But I just think they could have given me more respect because of my longevity here, because of my having been a good tenant here and also because of what I actually did to bring the building and this particular neighborhood to international prominence," he said.
The store and restaurant owner also said "I've been backing up from the very beginning" in terms of requests he had made of McLaughlin. Bridges said he initially asked to become owner of 2520 Fayetteville St., then part-owner, then long-term lessee -- all to no avail.
McLaughlin said that no lessee has the standing to become a building owner by virtue of a trouble-free tenancy and claimed that Bridges renewed his request for an ownership stake in the property this week. McLaughlin also charged Bridges with not negotiating in good faith.
The property-owner's son also said that he still hoped for city financing for the building renovation, although he believes the city improperly allowed Bridges' complaints to gum up the incentive process.
McLaughlin added later in the interview: "I'm not angry with Mr. Bridges. I'm not trying to do anything negative about him, it's just a situation that was not workable."
Bonfield said that the city incentives process will go on hold until the McLaughlins submit revised deal points.
