PEABODY — The owners of Olio, an event venue on Main Street, have requested that the City Council amend the conditions of a special permit issued in February 2018. A hearing before the City Council will be held on Thursday, Sept. 9.
“Unfortunately, the reality of the conditions has been incredibly challenging, a fact which we discovered as we started to operate,” owners Sarah Narcus and her mother, Ellen Basch, wrote in a letter to the council. “Despite our success to date, we are struggling with the complexities of our special permit. These revised conditions (will) put us more in line with other downtown special permits, i.e. Granite Coast (Brewing) and Black Box Theater, as well as uses allowed by right, i.e. Stanzy’s (Country Ranch). We feel that we are asking for what is reasonable in our bustling downtown district.”
Narcus says changed circumstances since the permit was issued are at the heart of the request.
“We are just finding our feet again and these conditions don’t make it feasible to have success,” said Narcus. “A lot has happened since we got the permit and we feel now is the time to go before the council to address those things. We just want to be treated as fairly as our neighbors.”
Narcus said that the purchase of the property was contingent on having a special permit. She and Basch felt that accepting the conditions was best at the time.
“We had to accept the special permit conditions or face months of delays and lost revenue,” Narcus said. “‘We were told, ‘This is how it works in Peabody,’ so that’s what we did, knowing we could always go back to the council once we were up and running.”
Narcus and Basch said their goal is “to make the conditions more consistent with other downtown businesses” and will “ensure that we will be able to comply with them.”
The major request is extension of Sunday through Thursday operating hours from 10:30 p.m. to midnight and 1 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.
“We definitely lost business because of the limited hours,” Narcus said. “That’s not just a lost opportunity for all of us.”
Other suggested changes are: reduced hours for setup/cleanup, changes regarding the hours trucks may operate, removal of conditions that no longer apply and elimination of blanket bans against idling vehicles and smoking in favor of a requirement that Olio make “reasonable efforts to prevent” each activity.
Narcus and Basch bought the vacant building at 43 Main. St. in 2018 for $550,000. They financed the purchase and renovation with a $1 million loan from the Small Business Administration and a $480,000 loan from the city’s Community Development Authority (CDA). The result was a transformation of a broken-down building built in 1912 into a spectacular event space with a 21st Century modern industrial theme.
Within one year of opening in the spring of 2019, Olio received a Boston Magazine “Best of Boston” award. Insider named it the best wedding venue in Massachusetts. Olio won a WeddingWire Couples Choice award and a 2020 Northshore Magazine Best of North Shore award. Olio has been featured in numerous publications including the New York Times and the Boston Business Bureau.
Then the pandemic hit Olio hard.
“We were well on our way to profitability,” said Narcus. “We were so grateful to the city, especially CDA, which paused our payments. We know the city really supports what we are doing and has since our first proposal in 2017. When we bought the property, we were told by (Ward 2 Councilor) Peter McGinn to come back to the council ‘if we needed to.'”
Narcus said she reached out to McGinn, who is an abuttor, prior to sending the letter to the council, but he has not responded.
The letter cites Olio’s ongoing support of many Peabody-based businesses, such as caterers, photographers, DJs, hotels, event planners, florists, transportation services and restaurants.
“We have heard from many of our downtown neighbors who have been grateful for the partnership opportunities, the increased foot traffic and the way we have worked to beautify downtown,” the letter said.
“We’re trying to bring something special to Peabody but some days it’s really hard,” said Narcus. “We hope for a positive outcome at our Sept. 9 City Council hearing, which will speak volumes about the council’s shared vision for a booming and bustling downtown.”
“We are doing exactly what we told the city we wanted to do when we applied for the permit,” said Basch. “We want to continue doing that as promised.”
