Outdoor gathering space planned for downtown vacant lot in Great Bend

By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post

Plans continue to move forward to transform a downtown vacant lot in Great Bend into a multi-use gathering space. Joe Andrasek owns a few lots in the 1100 block of Main Street, including Charlie’s Place, and wants to turn the vacant lot between the Golden Belt Bicycle Company and Dilly & Doc into an outdoor venue for concerts, vendor markets, bicycle demos, community ceremonies and business events.

Andrasek’s one concern on the vacant lot transformation is losing parking spaces for patrons.

"My biggest concern has been this parking lot," said Andrasek. "This is what the holdup is on moving forward. We have a lot of stuff lined up and ready to roll, but I don't want to lose the parking behind the lots."

Andrasek went before the Great Bend City Council Monday night requesting to acquire the city-owned parking lot on Williams Street, directly behind Charlie’s Place.

The city council was in favor of extending a long-term lease of the parking lot to Andrasek if he maintained the lot. Andrasek was in favor of the proposal, which still needs to be drawn up by the city attorney, and plans to keep the lot on Williams for parking.

"If this project goes really well and the community is using it a lot, I don't want to have zero parking besides the street (Main)," said Andrasek.

The vacant lot project, referred to as the “Starting Line”, could be used by individuals, small groups or even reserved for special events. The starting line references the SRCA Dragstrip mural that was painted on the north wall of the bike shop by the vacant lot.