Painesville City Council recently authorized City Manager Doug Lewis to enter an amended development agreement with Grand River Walk LLC for the group’s 257 E. Main St. site. The amended agreement was presented to council after Grand River Walk worked on a revised site proposal because of challenges obtaining financing. The agreement lists the responsibilities of both the developer and the city. “I think we’ve made pretty good strides with the staff, I think we’re on the final red lines, looks like we’re close to executing that document as well as some of the other documents we’ve been discussing,” said Marous Development Group Development Director Jon Sines at council’s Oct. 21 meeting. Grand River Walk is part of Marous’ project portfolio. “It’s basically stating that rather than building…the building that we were originally presented, with the retail on the first floor, the balcony off the back or the patio off the back, that basically, it will be a residential development with a restaurant or retail and a partial patio off the backside of the building,” Lewis added later at that meeting. The draft form of the agreement attached to the council legislation lists obligations that the city has met or started to meet, such as making changes to the development and zoning rules, filing for a 30-year abatement to taxes on improvements to the site, cleaning up the site and supporting access to economic development tools. The draft also gives the city the obligation of making infrastructure improvements to the area. Obligations for the developer include but are not limited to connecting the development with the city’s proposed amphitheater on the Grand River and providing certain infrastructure elements necessary to the project. The draft agreement also states that city council must approve of any sale or transfer of the property. If the developer does not make $1 million in construction improvements by June 1, 2025, the city has the option of taking the property back at no cost and ending the agreement. Council approved the agreement 6-0 on first reading, with Councilman Paul Hach excused from the meeting. Sines presented plans for the revised development at a Painesville Planning Commission meeting earlier in October. The new proposal includes a 4,300-square-foot restaurant space and a 2,800-square-foot outdoor dining area, 110 apartment units and resident amenities such as a ground room lobby and fitness room and an outdoor patio, pool and grilling station.