This drawing shows a northwest perspective of a proposed grocery store and apartment building at 700 New Hampshire St.

A plan to build a downtown grocery store at Seventh and New Hampshire streets is closer to becoming a reality after the development group won a recent legal victory in Douglas County District Court.

If you remember, we reported in December that a lawsuit had been filed by two owners of condos in the Hobbs Taylor Lofts building. The two owners were objecting to how the development was trying to change a set of covenants that prohibit a grocery store being constructed on the former Borders Bookstore site, which is adjacent to Hobbs Taylor Lofts.

The two condo owners — Brian Russell and Brent Flanders — argued that in order for the covenants to be changed to allow a grocery store, every condo owner had to agree. The development group — led by Lawrence businessmen Doug Compton and Mike Treanor — argued otherwise. Douglas County District Court Judge Kay Huff sided with the development group.

Now, look for work to accelerate on building a Queen’s Price Chopper on the site.

This drawing shows a northwest perspective of a proposed grocery store and apartment building at 700 New Hampshire St.

“We’ll really start the process of going through city approvals now,” said Bill Fleming, an attorney who represents the development group.

As we have reported, plans call for the former Borders bookstore site to be razed. It would be replaced with a three-story building that would include a ground-floor grocery store and two levels of apartments above. The project also would have a below-ground parking garage, in addition to some surface parking.

Plans call for a full-service store, including a pharmacy, a Mongolian grill, a salad bar and lots of other grab-and-go items that likely will be a game-changer in the busy downtown. The lawsuit was a potential stumbling block. If the court had ruled in favor of the condo owners, the project could have been in jeopardy because there is little dispute that the current covenants won’t allow for a grocery store.

This drawing shows a south perspective of a proposed grocery store and apartment building at 700 New Hampshire St.

There is always a chance that the condo owners will appeal the decision. One of the owners, Russell, is an attorney, so you can’t rule out an appeal. I’ve got a call into him for comment. (UPDATE: I heard back from Russell, and he said he will file an appeal with the Kansas Court of Appeals seeking a reversal of the decision. How such an appeal would impact the ability of the project to move forward is a bit unclear to me, but Russell said the issue will continue to be a major hurdle for the project. “If you were hoping to buy groceries there soon, I’m sorry. I think it will be months or years before anybody is buying groceries over there, even if we lose the case,” he said.)

Regardless of the lawsuit issue, hurdles for the project remain. I assure, you the laws of nature and collusion among health insurers dictate that it can never be easy to put in an all-you-can eat food bar across the street from my office. (The Borders building is catty-corner from the J-W offices.) The new hurdle is now about financial incentives for the project.

Developers have been upfront that the project is going to need some financial help.

“There is a reason there is not a grocery store there now,” Fleming said.

Even at about 40,000 square feet, the grocery store still will be smaller than many of the grocery stores in other parts of Lawrence. Grocery stores make their money on volume, and a smaller store cuts down on that volume. Plus, the fact this site will need some underground parking to be feasible also adds to the costs, Fleming said.

This drawing shows a west perspective of a proposed grocery store and apartment building at 700 New Hampshire St.

The development will seek Tax Increment Financing. That is a program where new property and sales taxes generated by the development are rebated back to the development for several years in order to help pay for infrastructure, like the parking garage.

The project also plans to seek a $2.25 million low-interest or no-interest loan that would be given to Queen’s Price Chopper company. The loan would be used to equip the store. It would be paid back to the city, as long as the store met certain financial benchmarks. But if the store doesn’t perform as well as expected, the loan would perhaps not have to be paid back. The details on that arrangement likely will be important.

Incentive requests at Lawrence City Hall can be stickier than that unfortunate incident involving my “experimentation” with the grocery store’s self-serve peanut butter machine. But if there is ever going to be a smooth-sailing incentives request, this may be it. People have been talking about the need for a downtown grocery store for decades. The talk has intensified in recent years as wellness advocates have said many central Lawrence and North Lawrence residents live in a “food desert,” meaning they don’t have easy access to fresh, healthy food.

So, expect several community members to speak in favor of this request. But, I’m also picking up on certain segments of the community who may think the food desert idea is overblown — they note there is a Dillons grocery store at 17th and Massachusetts. History also has shown that building a multistory building in downtown also can spark debates about design guidelines, encroachment on neighborhoods and other such matters.

This drawing shows a northeast perspective of a proposed grocery store and apartment building at 700 New Hampshire St.

In some ways, we are set to find out how much some people hate financial incentives and how much other people really believe in the idea of a grocery store being the lynchpin for downtown becoming a hip 24-hour district that has far more people living in it than is the case today.

Fleming said the development group already is filling out the applications for the city incentives. The group also will be seeking federal tax credits through a program that is designed to support community initiatives, such as eliminating food deserts. Those tax credits are awarded as apart of a a competitive process, but the development group has expressed optimism about receiving the credits.

One incentive that won’t be sought is a special taxing district that would add up to a 1 percent special sales tax on the purchase of groceries at the site.

Fleming said the development group also is in the process of filing the paperwork needed for the city to conduct design review to ensure the project meets the historic design guidelines that are required for downtown projects. That means the project will have to go through the Historic Resources Commission, which at times can be a lengthy process.

Fleming hopes to have city approvals within the next four months, which could allow construction to begin in the spring.

As for the court’s decision on the lawsuit, it was pretty technical in nature. However, Judge Huff did note that 38 of the 40 condo owners seem to be in favor of the project. She also noted that the two objecting condo owners hadn’t provided good evidence about why living next to a grocery store would be harmful.

“Petitioners provided no evidence indicating how living next to a grocery store would differ dramatically from living next to a bookstore or any other commercial development, for that matter,” Huff wrote in her opinion.

Thankfully, I was not called as an expert witness in this case because I can attest that Tolstoy has never added 25 pounds to me, but the year I lived next to the Dillons fried chicken counter sure did. (Now, Harry Potter books have proved to be dangerous, but that is mainly because I didn’t realize how pointy my wizard’s hat was.)

If I hear more on whether the case will be appealed, or other matters related to the incentives, I’ll let you know.