For months, Wesley Spearman has floated a proposal to rebrand Billy’s on Grand — a longstanding restaurant and bar that has recently drawn negative attention after frequent police calls — as the Gather Eatery and Bar, which he calls an out-with-the-old approach to a better relationship with the community around St. Paul’s Grand Avenue.

A key turning point could happen next Wednesday, when the St. Paul City Council is scheduled to determine whether to issue the Gather Eatery and Bar its own liquor and entertainment licenses.

Spearman’s efforts to revamp Billy’s have faced roadblocks. The liquor and entertainment licenses that his business, the DWD Group, currently use to serve alcohol are effectively borrowed from the official owner, Randall Johnson and the RJMP Group, who purchased the 380-seat restaurant at 857 Grand Ave. from building owner Bill Wengler and the Wengler family shortly before the pandemic.

The Wengler family had operated Billy’s for 36 years. Spearman, who signed a management agreement with the RJMP Group, said that Johnson informed him he’s dissolving his company, leaving the licensing in doubt. And with the possibility looming of losing a license to serve alcohol, obtaining financing to remodel and rebrand Billy’s has been difficult.

Even the issuance of $100,000 in city STAR grants and loans approved in 2021 have been held up by the lack of license, a key component of some $400,000 in funding and financing he’s lined up for the rebrand.

“Without a license, my bank is not willing to take a chance on a business that we don’t know will have a liquor license moving forward,” said Spearman in October.

Licensing hearing

A  licensing hearing in June before a city legislative hearing officer drew a bevy comments from supporters and opponents, with some residents pointing to back-to-back police calls — including a bullet through a nearby resident’s window — during the first two years of the DWD Group’s operation.

Spearman and others have said crime in the area rose during the pandemic, and not all the police calls were from Billy’s. A fatal shooting outside Billy’s occurred eight months before they took over the establishment.

Portland Avenue resident Derek Kirchhoff, who lives two blocks away from Billy’s, recalled receiving a flier urging him to share concerns about the bar with City Hall.

“I would like to actually express the opposite of concern,” wrote Kirchhoff last May. “To us, the complaints feel misguided and, frankly, racist. I’ve only been there once myself, but it seemed like any other bar. I personally feel like it adds life and vibrancy to the neighborhood and like walking by and hearing people chattering away and having a good time.”

A loan foreclosure process

Adding to Spearman’s challenges, the Union Bank and Trust Company is suing mall owner Bill Wengler, the Wengler Family Limited Partnership and East Mall Associates over an unpaid loan for $3.2 million issued in November 2020. As of September, according to the lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court, $3.16 million had yet to be paid. The mall owners are also behind on their property tax payments, further raising the possibility of foreclosure.

The mall also is home to the Juut Salonspa, Paper Source and the Trade Winds clothing store.

Spearman on Tuesday said his lawyers have been in contact with the mall ownership over maintenance concerns.

“We’re running into a variety of issues with plumbing, roof leaks,” Spearman said.

On Thursday, efforts to reach the Wenglers for comment were unsuccessful.

On Monday, the Summit Hill Association met with representatives of the Grand Avenue Business Association, City Council Member Rebecca Noecker and other interested groups to discuss the growing number of retail vacancies on the avenue. Pottery Barn, located just a few doors down and across the intersection from Billy’s, plans to shutter for good by the end of January, leaving the Grand Place Mall at Grand and Victoria Street devoid of public-facing tenants.

Losing Billy’s — or the Gather Eatery — and any of the other tenants at 857 Grand Ave. would be a further step back, according to some business advocates.

“The neighborhood is concerned, because we don’t need another corner of empty buildings,” said Monica Haas, executive director of the Summit Hill Association. “The neighborhood is not ready for any more vacancies.”

10 conditions for licensing

After months of consideration, the city’s legislative hearing office this week issued its recommendations, including 10 conditions for licensing approval, which Spearman signed and returned to City Hall on Monday.

A final decision will rest with the city council on Wednesday, though the item is currently listed on the council’s consent agenda, where multiple items are approved en masse.

Among the conditions, the Gather Eatery and Bar is required to use a card scanner to record I.D.s of anyone entering after 10 p.m., and the information must remain on file and available to St. Paul Police for at least 30 days.

The establishment must create and implement an egress and ingress plan that ensures groups entering and exiting can be observed by staff, and eliminate groups gathering in spaces that are “not readily observable or controllable.” That includes making the front door facing Grand Avenue the main entrance and making the back door into the bar a limited access entryway.

It also means limiting vehicle access in the alley as much as “reasonably possible,” and improving sight lines into the patio by, at a minimum, moving the sidewalk entrance to the patio “to a location which is clearly observable from the interior active areas of the licensed premises.”

All planned improvements need to be submitted to the St. Paul Police Department and the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections within six months of the license being issued, and implementation needs to occur within nine months. St. Paul Police would have to approve any major changes to the plan.

The total occupancy limit would be 297 people. The addition of billiard tables or other table games could trigger a new occupancy limit, as determined by the Department of Safety and Inspections.

The DWD Group must create a video surveillance camera and lighting placement plan for both the interior and exterior of the premises, to be approved by St. Paul Police and the Department of Safety and Inspections. Security cameras must operate around the clock, and the video must be available for inspection for 30 days.

Roving security personnel must be on hand by 10 p.m., remain until closing and be clearly identifiable and properly trained. Staff or security will be expected to conduct outside sweeps of the building, including the patio and parking lot at least twice an hour and discourage loitering from 10 p.m. until closing. All customers must leave the area within 15 minutes of closing.

Alcoholic beverages may not leave the licensed liquor service area. When the establishment is open past 11 p.m., no patrons would be allowed inside 30 minutes before closing time. Last call would be 30 minutes before closing time.

City legislative code sets penalties

The recommendations emphasize that while the city’s legislative code sets presumptive penalties for violations, the city council has the right to deviate from them and consider more serious penalties, an “upward departure” from the code, if there are “substantial and compelling” reasons such as past violations.

All amplified music and other “generated sounds and/or noises” must comply with the city’s legislative code and state statutes.

Spearman on Tuesday confirmed he had accepted all the conditions, leaving final approval up to the city council on Wednesday.

“I did sign it and share it with DSI,” he said.

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