The Tourism Center at Bullhead Point has a new tenant.
Fulton city lawmakers Tuesday approved a contract with Renee Watts to operate Giuseppe’s Sub and Pizza Shop in the building.
The contract runs for three years. The business will pay the city $200 a month in rent for the facility and will pay all of the utility costs for the building. The city will plow snow around the building and provide supplies for the restrooms in the building. The city keeps the right to allow other vendors to sell food in the park.
“We’ve done several requests for proposals” to operate the building, said Mayor Ron Woodward. “There really hasn’t been any interest.”
Giuseppe’s will become the fourth food business to try to make a living at the Tourism Center building since it opened nearly a decade ago. There have been protests in the past from restaurant owners that the extremely low rent gives them a taxpayer-subsidized advantage. But three prior operators, including one that has a successful food business now, have failed to make a go of it there.
The building, built with state funds, was intended to house a concession stand, a tourism information booth and public restrooms for the park. It has been closed since the last tenant left more than a year ago. A tourism information center has been set up in the city-owned building next to City Hall.
Getting the restrooms open for the public is a significant part of the desire for a new tenant. “It just makes it more accessible and worthwhile for the community,” said Alderman Dan Knopp, whose committee dealt with the issue.
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