The Brownwood City Council met Tuesday morning, December 15, and approved ratification of the Brownwood Municipal Development District Board action for an incentive to Steven McCrane.  The approval is to reimburse up to $18,027 for parking lot development located at 508 N. Center to be used as public parking for no less than 20 years.

Background:

The BMDD Board approved a Building Improvement Incentive Program grant in October.  Steven and Matthew McCrane have requested assistance in paving of an empty lot that they own adjacent to the building for parking.  Staff informed the McCranes that if the BMDD were to participate, the parking lot would have to be available for parking by the general public.   The area around the Courthouse square has been problematic for years for businesses located nearby.  This new parking lot would greatly help alleviate some of the parking issues and benefit multiple businesses in the area as well as the Brown County Museum of History.  It is expected that the parking lot will open up 15 to 17 parking spaces.

The McCranes received a quote to pave the parking lot from Martin Earthworks for $36,054.  Since much of the parking issues in the area are created by vehicles parking for Courthouse business, staff has requested that Brown County participate in this request by splitting the cost of the public parking development.

Steven and Matthew McCrane recently purchased the old Shaw Laundry building located at 508 N. Center.   They plan to redevelop this property into something called Shaw Marketplace in keeping with the history of the building.   The business plan is a blended model of a small business incubator and an indoor/outdoor market.   Potential tenants could rent a small space inside the facility to have regular hours of operations.  It would work as a transition from some home-based businesses or smaller businesses in other towns that want to have an easy entry point into the Brownwood market.