[Source: Teya Vitu, Tucson Citizen] -- Hotel Congress owner Richard Oseran may get the City Council go-ahead Tuesday to open a market in the lobby of the Historic Depot across from his hotel. The council will consider an amendment that would add the lobby and trackside platform to the eight-year lease Oseran already has for the restaurant space at the east end of the city-owned depot, 400 E. Toole Ave. The lease calls for Maynards' Kitchen and Maynards' Market to open by Oct. 1, and Oseran hopes to have them open in late summer or early fall. Oseran will start paying a $2,400 annual lease Sept. 1 for the lobby and platform, but the restaurant will be lease-free until May 2011, according to the lease Oseran negotiated with the city in October. Oseran's lobby market proposal passed muster with city, state and federal historic preservation guidelines, but Friends of the Historic Depot in February let the Tucson-Pima Historical Commission know they disapproved of filling waiting room space with a market. The council will discuss the lease amendment at a 3:30 p.m. study session, and will likely approve it with no discussion at the 5:30 p.m. council meeting, where the depot item is on consent agenda. Both sessions are in the Council Chambers, 255 W. Alameda St. [Photo source: Tucson Historic Depot.]
