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The Livermore City Council is set Monday to weigh a proposal to shift the concept for a building under renovation downtown from a restaurant to an event center.
Michael Messinger, who purchased the former Southwestern Bell Company property from the city government in 2021 to open a restaurant with a bar, put in an application this summer to switch gears to an event center for the historic building at the corner of Second Street and South Livermore Avenue – while still leaving restaurant on the table for the future.
“The proposed amendment would not eliminate a possible restaurant use but instead would allow the flexibility of an event center use in addition to a restaurant use. Should the operator ultimately choose to revert to a restaurant in the future, the proposed amendment to the Agreement would allow for that change,” community development director Brent Smith wrote in his staff report to the council recommending approval.
Messinger’s project, which remains under active construction, involves preserving the historic portion of the former SBC building that dates back 97 years while remodeling the new sections of the building that were added during the ensuing decades.
According to Smith, the city supported the original restaurant plan as offering a revitalized use for an underutilized building while preserving its historic character.
Of the concept changeup, Smith said, “The proposed event center use would still direct investment towards the Downtown, provide a meeting venue that is undersupplied in the City and Tri-Valley, and avoid over-saturation of restaurant uses in the Downtown.”
The proposed amendment to the purchase and sale agreement between the city and Messinger, allowing for the event center use, is listed among a three-item consent calendar for the council – a collection of items deemed routine and acted upon in a single vote, unless a matter is pulled for separate, individual discussion.
The council’s open session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday (Nov. 10) in the council chamber at the Civic Center Meeting Hall at 1016 S. Livermore Ave. Read the full agenda online here.
In other business
* Livermore Downtown Inc. Executive Director Kara Klotchman will deliver the agency’s annual update to the council and to the community.
* The council will also hear the annual report of the city’s Human Services Commission.
* As for the rest of the consent calendar, councilmembers will consider authorizing the Prisoner of War / Missing in Action (POW-MIA) flag to be displayed on the flagpole at the Civic Center Campus this week in honor of Veterans Day. They will also look to approve the minutes from their Oct. 27 regular meeting.
* In closed session, starting at 6:40 p.m., the council will discuss goal-setting for the 2025-26 performance review of new city attorney Kimberly Cilley. A conference with the city’s legal team on the case Lee v. City of Livermore was canceled and taken off the agenda.
