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The Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council unanimously approved a resolution to declare 112 W. Union St. surplus property and sell it to Cranford Hospitality for $425,000. The property was most recently Bella Vino and for a long time was Yianni’s Family Restaurant. The Â鶹´«Ã½ Main Street Office is in the upstairs portion of the building.

Cranford Hospitality owns Granny’s Country Kitchen, Charolais Steakhouse, Standard Oyster Company, Cranford Brother’s BBQ, Main Chick Jammin Biscuits, City Walk Brewing and City Walk Distillery, according to its website.

City Manager Sally Sandy said the council previously directed staff to issue requests for proposals and to solicit any interest in upfitting and operating a restaurant in the city-owned property. The city has owned the building for several decades, Sandy said.

Sandy said the city received several proposals throughout the process and had visits to the property by potential tenants. She said the one proposal that meets the city’s original reason for purchasing the building — create an economic driver to downtown — is Cranford Hospitality.

Sandy said the restaurant group has a very long history of success in the restaurant business in the region. And its business model is that it owns and self-operates its establishments, she said.

Sandy said the intent is to close on the sale of the property by the end of December and for renovations of the building to begin by Jan. 31.

State law requires local governments to have an upset bid process when selling surplus property, which is a 10-day period where someone else could make an offer on the building, Sandy said. She said the property will be advertised by Thursday to start the process.

She said any upset bids have to meet certain requirements and stipulations, including a buy-back option for the city at the purchase price, closing to occur before December and renovations to start by the end of January, and also a commitment to operate the restaurant for six days a week, two meals a day, and to upfit the building, including the first floor, the second floor, the mezzanine and also the outdoor deck.

At the end of the process, the council would decide on a development agreement.

If the purchase agreement goes through with Cranford Hospitality, Sandy said the restaurant company would put down a $25,000 earnest money deposit and the offer also would include free and reduced rent for the Â鶹´«Ã½ Main Street office to stay in its current property.

Sharon Jablonski, the city’s cultural and creative development director, told The News Herald that if Cranford Hospitality is successful in its purchase of the building, its owners have come up with a new concept for the location.

Sandy said the restaurant has proposed offering American fare that would include burgers, sandwiches, salads, soups, Blue Plate specials, a kids menu, pastas, steak and fish.

Also during the meeting, the council approved a resolution to apply for an additional grant from the State Reserve Program for the interconnection of water systems between Â鶹´«Ã½ and the towns of Valdese and Drexel.

The grant would be used to explore, design and fund a connection between the three local governments.

The connection could help overcome the types of challenges the city and towns experienced during Hurricane Helene, local leaders have said.

Sandy told the council the grant application is due by Sept. 30.

In June, the three local governments agreed to apply for a grant from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help fund the connection.

In other business, the council:

• Approved its consent agenda, which includes a resolution to accept an Appalachian Regional Commission grant for $700,000 for the Albert Tron Boulevard water and sewer project.