City Council denies funding, but expresses excitement about Ironwood Gym, Locke Street Eats

AZTEC — William DuTremaine said the sign for Ironwood Gym and Locke Street Eats began to generate community interest and discussion the moment went up last week. This sign is intended to have a nostalgic feel to it and compliment the newly-renovated downtown.

DuTremaine and his wife, Kim, purchased the property at the corner of Locke Avenue and W. Main Street and are planning to open a gym that will serve their clients from Cottonwood Clinical Services, Inc. as well as a food truck area with a pavilion that could host events.

The couple presented their vision to the Farmington City Council on Jan. 19 while asking for financial assistance to make it a reality. This meeting took place on Zoom and a recording can be found at fmtn.org/AgendaCenter.

While the City Council chose not to provide financial incentives to help develop the project, elected officials said they are excited about the vision.

“These are the kind of developments that we were hoping for when we spent $23 million,” said Mayor Nate Duckett, referring to money spent renovating downtown, the Farmington Civic Center and the Totah Theater.

Meetings roundup: Farmington weighs incentive for downtown gym, food truck proposal

The downtown area is part of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Area. This allows for public funds to be spent as incentives to promote development.

The City Council chose not to grant the incentives request because it had not budgeted any money for the MRA incentives program this year.

The DuTremaines asked for $113,000 in incentives to help pay for a new façade for the building at 324 W. Main St. as well as for a pavilion for a food truck park that will be known as Locke Street Eats. They say they will continue moving forward with the project even without financial assistance from the city. However, it will take longer to build the food truck park and they will not replace the building's façade.

During the City Council meeting, Kim DuTremaine said Ironwood Gym is preparing to open once the gym equipment arrives. In the initial phase, the gym will serve only Cottonwood Clinical Services' clients. However, Kim DuTremaine said eventually they hope to allow downtown businesses to have memberships for their employees at the gym. The gym will be a 24-hour facility and has been equipped with security cameras as well as a system that allows clients to access the facility using their phones.

While the gym will mainly serve Cottonwood clients and people in the downtown area, Locke Street Eats is intended to bring people downtown and help create a family-friendly environment. In addition to providing a place for food trucks to park, Locke Street Eats will have restrooms, a food preparation area and a play area for children. Kim DuTremaine said they hope to host events at Locke Street Eats, including live music and movie nights.

“We live in Farmington. We have a family,” she said. “We want things that are family-friendly. We have businesses downtown. We want people to come downtown.”

There have been concerns from downtown restaurant owners about how the food trucks could impact their already struggling businesses, especially as COVID-19 restrictions have limited their capacity and even prevented indoor dining. Kim DuTremaine said they have offered to save an area for the downtown restaurants to offer their food at Locke Street Eats in the same way that they might provide food during an outdoor festival.

Hannah Grover covers government for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652 or via email at hgrover@daily-times.com.

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