photo by: Herron + Partners architects/City of Lawrence

A rendering shows the proposed design for a Q39 barbecue restaurant in downtown Lawrence.

City commissioners approved a financial incentive package on Tuesday for the Q39 barbecue restaurant project in downtown Lawrence, which developers said they needed for the restaurant project to be viable.

The commission voted 4-1 to approve a Community Improvement District and issuance of industrial revenue bonds to help the Kansas City barbecue restaurant locate in the former Journal-World printing plant building at 639 New Hampshire St. Commissioner Lisa Larsen was the lone no vote. (Note: The Journal-World has no ownership or involvement in the project.)

City commissioners previously considered the incentive package during a meeting in February, but voted to defer the item. Since then, further development has been on hold.

The building has sat vacant since 2014, according to Patrick Watkins, an attorney representing the development group. Plans to redevelop the site have been around for more than a year. Originally, the restaurant was slated to be part of a larger development that would have renovated the entire printing plant complex to add high-end office space, a food hall and an open-air plaza. But in October, one of the developers involved in the project let its option to purchase the plant expire, stalling the larger development plan.

For the restaurant to move forward without the larger development, Watkins said developers needed an incentives package, which included creating a new taxing district that would add 2% to the sales tax rate for all food and beverages purchased at the restaurant and would allow the development to save more than $160,000 by exempting it from paying sales taxes on construction materials.

Watkins said the incentive package isn’t going specifically to help the restaurant, but instead to redevelop a building into a usable structure. Additionally, Watkins said the group and the city received a letter of support from a firm called Alarm.com, which he said expressed potential interest in expanding its operations, including potentially into the surrounding building.

Andrew Holt, the director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., spoke during public comment in favor of allowing the incentive package. Holt said it was a rare opportunity to revitalize a building that has been long vacant, and the longer a building sits vacant, the more “the clock is ticking” to redevelop it because it gets more and more expensive to do so.

“This is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss,” Holt said.

Commissioner Bart Littlejohn said he would support the project. He echoed what Holt said about the future costs if the site sits empty, and he expressed appreciation to the developers for continuing with the plan even after another developer backed out.

“The fact someone is willing to step up and be the first one to (work on the building), I think, is exemplary,” Littlejohn said.

According to a city memo, the project would be expected to add $7 million in private investment and support 88 new permanent jobs in Lawrence, including eight managerial positions.