Tallahassee CRA board OKs $101,813 grant for Argonaut Coffee renovations downtown

Argonaut Coffee – the Greek mythology-themed café across from Cascades Park – was granted its request of $101,813 from the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency to fund its renovations at the shop.

On Thursday, CRA board members, all the city commissioners, listened to Sherri Curtis, the agency's community redevelopment coordinator, as she presented a brief slideshow on behalf of the coffee house.

The sole retail tenant of Millstream at Cascades, 850 S. Gadsden St., had asked for funding for a pergola over the outside seating area, an awning for the front entrance with an LED light strip and the installation of an interior brick accent wall.

Argonaut Coffee's $101,813 grant request was 24% of its eligible expenses, estimated at $437,253, according to documents. It was OK'd on a 4-1 vote.

Mayor John Dailey and City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox, Curtis Richardson and Jack Porter voted in favor. Commissioner Jeremy Matlow voted against the request.

But both Matlow and Porter, admittedly fans of the coffee shop, expressed concerns for funding what are aesthetic repairs.

Porter said the board should consider a loan program instead of the current "CRA Medium and Large" grant program which backs six months of improvements made.

"Although I feel this is a worthy project, (the money) could be better spent where an area is more blighted and really, really needs the repairs," she said.

In previous reporting by the Tallahassee Democrat when Hayward House was seeking a $134,000 redevelopment grant, Matlow expressed his disapproval of putting the CRA in a position of "funding every project that has internal work renovations downtown.” Concerns along the same lines were repeated in Thursday's meeting.

As Matlow said, "People have a new idea and need our help to open a new business and address blight in a certain area, those applications I'm willing to entertain, but not this one."

The coffee shop opened its fourth location in Cascades Park in September 2023, and the grant application was submitted towards the end of this March. The current grant program may see a few adjustments as funding requests continue to flow in, officials said.

"Our current programs allows us to go back six months of improvements that were made, and they can use that as a match and that's what we did in this particular program," Curtis said as she presented. "But the programs that we're looking to modify would remove that from our applications."

In an interview, Argonaut owner Jason McArthur said "the city is proving they want to support other small local businesses like ours in taking big risks and starting somewhere unknown. We hope other ventures come from this and we will be happy to be an ambassador for the park and the city when they ask about starting a business here."

Store upgrades are expected to be finished by August, just in time for the fall semester if "all goes well," McArthur said, specifically permitting.

The business previously had locations above the Midtown Reader bookstore on Thomasville Road and in Goodwood Museum and Gardens off Miccosukee Road.

Related: Argonaut Coffee says it will bid farewell to location at Goodwood Museum and Gardens

Kyla A Sanford covers dining and entertainment for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ksanford@tallahassee.com. New restaurant opening up, special deals, or events coming up? Let me know!

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee CRA board OKs grant for Argonaut Coffee upgrades downtown