Financial backer pulls the plug
Plans collapse for the PERC project in North Rome.
The dream of two young Romans to create a cafe and community arts and cultural center dubbed the “PERC” for Peacefully Engaging the Rome Community, is on hold for the time being. Gordon Rose, Reed’s primary financial backer, has pulled out of the project and asked Jessie Reed and Danielle Bryant to vacate the building at 200 Chatillon Road in the Riverside community.
Reed and Bryant met with Kim Puckett, one of the former co-owners of the building Thursday, to help Puckett remove some old papers that were left over from the Sweet Dreams business Puckett and Kelly Gates operated in the building for nearly four years.
The PERC was conceived of as cafe and coffee shop, complete with a drive-through window that would provide a healthier style of sandwiches and beverages. Reed and Bryant also envisioned space for art and music events as well as massage therapy and energy healing.
‘I’m trying to see the positives, maybe there’s a better way to get it done anyway, and for it to be invested in locally. I plan to take it to the Chamber of Commerce and just shop it around.’ Jessie Reed PERC partner
Rose said he met Reed at a health food store about six months ago and offered to become a backer for the PERC project since he was in the process of purchasing the building across from the old Celanese complex.
Rose agreed to pay Reed and Puckett a salary to get the project going, and has been paying them for about three months while the remodeling of the building was underway.
Reed said she was expecting to open the facility sometime in September. “We were waiting for estimates from contractors to get the total price for the start-up money that he (Rose) was going to give us, and I was expecting it any day now,” Reed said.
Rose, who said he has invested approximately $20,000 in the PERC project to date, told the Rome News-Tribune he is also working on a documentary film, but had
his funds frozen related to that project. At that point, Rose and his CFO suggested that Reed do fundraisers to finance their salaries until the business could develop a revenue stream.
The problems became an issue on social media which came to a head Thursday when Rose
decided to pull the plug on his backing for the project.
“I’m trying to see the positives, maybe there’s a better way to get it done anyway, and for it to be invested in locally,” Reed said. “I plan to take it to the Chamber of Commerce and just shop it around. I think our business plan is really solid.”
Rose said once he formally takes ownership of the building he would either attempt to sell it or perhaps open a barbecue restaurant.