By TROY VINCENT
Over the past 10 years, Bear Naked BBQ has proudly operated a successful food truck and catering business based in Palmer. As longtime Palmer residents, we decided it was time to expand into a restaurant setting. This town holds a special place in our hearts, and we were excited to contribute to its culinary scene by establishing a permanent restaurant.
In May 2024, we purchased the “Just Sew” building at 579 S. Alaska St., located just north of the Palmer Depot in a prime downtown location. To make this purchase, I sold another investment property, fully aware that retrofitting the building into a restaurant would require an additional $1 million. Despite the financial challenges, we felt confident about moving forward.
The building is located in the historic corridor, which limited its seating capacity to just 20 due to parking requirements. However, there was an established provision called a “parking waiver,” which had historically never been denied. With this in mind, we submitted a request for a parking waiver to the city council. The hearing was publicly announced, giving community members 30 days to express their support or opposition.
What we didn’t anticipate was unexpected opposition from the owners of Vagabond Blues and the Valley Hotel, businesses located near and across the street from our property. Unbeknownst to us, they arranged an emergency meeting with the city’s zoning and planning department and city council just five days before our scheduled hearing. During this meeting, they successfully pushed for the immediate termination of the parking waiver program—effectively blocking our request.
When I attended my scheduled meeting, I had no idea the parking waiver program had already been terminated. It became painfully clear when a council member stated, “Well, based on what we did five days ago, I could hardly approve this.”
The local businesses I mentioned, along with the chairwoman of the zoning and planning committee, made negative and blatantly false statements about me and my business. I was completely unprepared for such hostility.
Before purchasing this building, I had watched the Invest in Palmer video—a polished presentation touting how welcoming Palmer is to new businesses. Unfortunately, my experience has been the exact opposite.
Now, I’m left with limited options. To comply I would have to turn my 4,800-square-foot building into a restaurant that serves only 20 people. With nearly $2 million invested in this project, it’s hard to see a path forward that makes financial sense. Not only would it be incredibly difficult to generate enough revenue to cover costs, but I am so frustrated with the city of Palmer that I no longer feel motivated to contribute to its tax base.
So, what’s next? Do I continue this uphill battle, or do I cut my losses, sell the building, and walk away?
Troy Vincent is co-owner of Bare Naked BBQ. He says that since writing this and posting it on Facebook, he has learned that this has happened to other people who have tried to open businesses in downtown Palmer, and it’s still unclear to him if there is a parking waiver program in effect.
