Council committee reviews loans from transformation fund to finish Terminal Building and back downtown restaurant plan

A finance committee discussion at the Aurora Committee of the Whole on March 4 reviewed proposed city loans and amendments intended to finish the Terminal Building’s ground‑floor commercial space and to support a restaurant tenant, chef Jamie Gilmore.

The proposal discussed would use money from the city’s transformation fund to make two city loans: a $200,000 loan to Urban Equity Properties (the building owner) and a $250,000 loan to restaurateur Jamie Gilmore (operating as LJ Hospitality Group) to finish the shell and kitchen for a restaurant the parties referred to as Lizzie Jays. Chris Minnick, Aurora’s chief financial officer, told the committee the loans are being structured as receivables in the transformation fund, with Urban Equity’s loan earning about 5.5 percent interest and the loan to Gilmore paid from pledged sales‑tax and food‑and‑beverage tax receipts at 3.75 percent. Minnick said loan repayments are expected to begin March 1, 2026, and modeled payback periods of roughly nine to 10 years.

The transformation fund was described as the source of the incentives. Minnick said the fund originated from a $16…