LISA HOBBS - News Editor
The struggle between Warren County Government and J’s Restaurant over its lease at Three Star Mall has come to an end.
During its monthly session on Monday evening, Warren County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a one-year lease agreement with J’s Corporation. The monthly rent is $3,500.
Commissioner Blaine Wilcher requested the possibility of a matrix that would help determine a fair rental amount per square footage, “At some point, I would like to see a matrix that we can use to set the rate. With the differences in square footage, if there’s something like a cheat sheet or something.”
Investigative reporting by Warren County Way found that J’s Restaurant is paying $1.64 per square foot, while other businesses are paying less: Middle TN Nursery Association pays $1.23, Koen’s Creamery Co pays 75 cents, Valor Healthcare pays 75 cents, TechHelp pays 58 cents, Local Game Store pays 54 cents and Rose’s pays 8 cents.
“I don’t know how we are going to handle all that,” stated County Executive Terry Bell, who added that it would be difficult to set a specific rate. “This isn’t about making money. It’s about filling spaces. It’s something we need to look into.”
Also questioned was the duration of the lease, which went from the originally requested five years to one year.
“The committee meet and came up with the terms of the lease other than the actual duration,” said Attorney Robert Bratcher, counsel for the county. “It was proposed that J’s Restaurant could choose one, two, three, four or five years. At 4:15 today we got the lease back and they wanted one year. There was no explanation as to why he wanted one year, but that’s what he asked for. It was one of the terms that was given to him, so that’s what we’ve got today.”
Voting in favor were Wilcher and Commissioners Ron Lee, Charles Dotson, Cam Montgomery, Ken Martin, Chris Rippy, Blaine Wilcher, James A. Zahn, Brad Hillis, Scott Kelly, Traye Cope, Phillip Stout, Caleb Graves, Tommy Savage, Scott Rubley, Randy England, Stephen Potter, Carlene Brown, Cole Taylor, Michael Bell, Steve Glenn, Carl D. Bouldin and Kenny Moffitt.
Commissioners Christy Ross and Gary Prater were absent.