At a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Cottonwood City Council unanimously voted in favor of selling the city property at 816 N. Main St. in Old Town to Caduceus Cellars, the winemaker owned by Maynard James Keenan that also owns and operates Merkin Vineyards in Old Town.
The sale is part of an ongoing effort by the council to consolidate and move Cottonwood’s government services out of buildings in Old Town, with the intention of letting the valuable real estate in Cottonwood’s chief entertainment district be used by new businesses that better take advantage of the location.
Caduceus Cellars intends to utilize the space for a retail store in conjunction with its nearby Old Town location.
“What we want to do there I think is just keeping in line with what Maynard’s been doing, bringing stuff that’s of Arizona to Old Town,” Matt Levoire, representing Caduceus Cellars, told the council. “That’s stuff that either is grown here or is crafted here. Something there with a general storeish feel is what we’re talking about.”
The other offer for the location was made by Orizzonte Group, a restaurant company that owns and operates several locations throughout Arizona, including Hideaway House in Sedona. The goal of Orizzonte was to create a new “Mexican Cantina and Saloon” in Cottonwood, with the intention of being “family friendly and casual with approachable price points,” according to the company’s letter of intent.
“We’ve been looking at an opportunity to grow into Cottonwood. It’s a real high energy, entertainment space that we’ve been looking at for years,” Dave Schnirch told the council on behalf of Orrizonte. “We’re interested in taking that city finance building and making it a really fun restaurant for Main Street. We want to make it fit into the community both visually and financially.”
The council informed both applicants that whatever moved into the location would have to contend with land- mark specifications on the exterior, which both parties said was not an issue.
According to Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski, the two main reasons for choosing Caduceus were price — Caduceus offered the city $10,000 more, for a total of $625,000 — and the desire of the city to seek an easement for use of the parking lot next to the building, which would be easier with a retail store than a restaurant.
Tuesday’s decision is just the first step in the process of selling the building, which will continue for several months or years into the future.
