$750,000 grant aimed at the old hotel rode with a three-year lease

Jeff Potts, executive director of the St. Johns Cultural Council, presented a revised lease on the former hotel and City Hall to the City Commission on April 6. In March he had asked for a three-year extension to match a pending $750,000 National Park Service grant for accessibility upgrades, infrastructure, and other capital work.

Commissioners favored three years with an option to come back, not an automatic renewal. The draft on the agenda ran to October 1, 2029. Potts described planned improvements including ADA access to the second floor. Initial work would cover only part of that floor; finishing it, the discussion said, would take significant later investment.

Staff had told the Commission in March that grant easements could last 10 to 20 years depending on how much is used. In September 2023 the Cultural Council said a 20-year historic-preservation easement would attach if the full $750,000 is granted.

Susan Brady of 121 14th Street asked for a formal lease for The Art Studio. The Cultural Council said existing tenants would stay through the first term and the renovations.

Staff and the city attorney were directed to finish a clean lease for a later vote. Who uses the city building and who pays to run it was left for the Cultural Council to advise on.