Historic Schoolhouse To Become First Restaurant At Chaffee Crossing

By John Lovett Times Record

A new Red Rooster Bistro restaurant is being planned to occupy the historic Maness Schoolhouse in Fort Smith.

The Fort Smith Planning Commission approved a request this week from RUM Inc. to zone the unzoned site for commercial use in preparation for renovations to the building, including construction of a large kitchen and enclosure of a patio. The structure, built by the Works Progress Administration, is in the Chaffee Crossing Historic District and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Its a nice thing to get that thing preserved, said Pat Mickle of Mickle Wagner Coleman Engineers, agent for RUM Inc. Its in pretty tough shape on the inside.

Plans call for the 120-seat restaurant to have two driveway entrances from both Wells Lake and Massard roads. Fifty-five parking spaces already are on site.

Construction could start as early as September pending Fort Smith Board of Directors approval next month. The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage also will have to OK the plans.

Ronnie Rouse, a partner with RUM Inc., and property co-owner Jim Meadows said the initial cost estimate for renovations is between $200,000 and $250,000. The planning commissions approval comes with requirements for stormwater drainage and Chaffee Crossing design guidelines.

Brenda Gregory of Red Rooster Bistro said RUM Inc. approached her several months ago.

They said we want to build you a new restaurant and I thought Nah thats all right, and then they said at Chaffee Crossing and my eyes bugged out and I changed my mind, Gregory said. Theres going to be a big demand for a restaurant out there, and Ill be glad to be the first.

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Historic Schoolhouse To Become First Restaurant At Chaffee Crossing

Construction on Washington Countys first Chick-fil-A fast-food restaurant will begin in September, with an opening date set for early next year.

South Strabane supervisors on Tuesday night unanimously approved the final land development plans for the restaurant at the Old Mill shopping center after the fast-food chain requested and was granted a variance on the number of parking spaces needed.

The 4,900-square-foot restaurant with 136 dining rooms seats and a double drive-through will be situated on a lot near Max & Ermas and is expected to open in January or February.

Were looking forward to being a part of the second wave of the (Old Mill) development, Chick-fil-A development supervisor Scott Goodson said.

The vote was preceded by a testy exchange between Supervisor Ed Mazur and the companys local attorney, Jonathan Kamin, over whether the restaurant was in compliance with the townships ordinance regarding parking spaces. Kamin said the company requested a variance to reduce the number of required spaces from 113 to 66, which is closer to its national average.

Sorry our ordinances dont comply with your national averages, Mazur said.

Actually, your ordinances dont comply with anything Ive seen in Western Pennsylvania, Kamin said. Theres no more land to be had for this piece of property.

Kamin said the lower number of spaces is closer to what the restaurant needs because 60 percent of its business is from drive-through customers. He added South Strabanes ordinance, which requires more parking spaces for fast-food sites than sit-down restaurants, is out of whack compared to other communities. The townships zoning board allowed the variance last month.

Meanwhile, a plan to expand a restaurant and bar at The Golf Club of Washington at 599 Country Club Road was tabled because it did not provide enough new parking spaces on the grounds. Ken Westcott, who represented the golf club at Tuesday nights meeting, said he has been given conflicting information from the township engineer and other officials about how many new spots are needed in addition to the 72 spots for the nine-hole golf course.

Im not getting a clear answer on that, Westcott said. This has been a frustrating process. I just want to get an answer for this process.

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Chick-fil-A to open in South Strabane early next year

SWANSBORO | A new restaurant project has been proposed for the Town of Swansboro.

The town planning board will consider an application for construction of The Black Swan Restaurant and Brew Club off Old Hammocks Road near the Hampton Inn during its regular meeting this week.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. July 22 in the community room at the Swansboro Town Hall at 601 Corbett Ave.

A Business Planned Building Group application for the restaurant will get its first review during the meeting.

John Freshwater with Crystal Coast Engineering and Ward Farm LLC are proposing the restaurant to be located at 103 Tarry More Ave. The property is zone B-3 and located within the town limits.

The plans submitted for review show a 10,785-square-foot building for the restaurant and brew pub, with areas included for outside seating as well as an outdoor play area. The primary faade faces Old Hammocks Road.

The plans were reviewed by the towns technical review committee, which included comments regarding the various requirements, such as parking and landscaping.

The building size falls within the new 40,000-square-foot building size limit and is proposed to be 30-feet tall, which is lower than the adjacent Hampton Inn.

The project meets parking requirements, with 91 required and 93 provided. However, a waiver has been requested for parking lot interconnection.

The applicants indicated that a request that the restaurants parking lot connect to the hotels was denied by the property owners.

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New restaurant proposed in Swansboro

In the front window of Comme Chez Soi on St-Laurent Blvd., two signs can be read: one a congratulatory note for being voted one of the top-rated restaurants in the Mile-End, the other a handwritten apology from the owner, explaining how the condo construction next door has forced its sudden closing after seven years.

Though its only been closed for two weeks, Comme Chez Soi has been hidden behind the cranes, concrete mixers, portable toilets and construction signs that crowd the area in front of it for the last eight months.

As a restaurant it relied on its loyal customers but also those walking by: chalkboards announcing its signature bison burgers, lasagna, and macaroni and cheese often drawing in passersby.

For months after the construction started last November, owner and chef Stphane Franois says he would show up in the morning and have to manoeuvre his way between the construction fences just to reach his eaterys entrance. He eventually convinced workers to move the fence panels, but the sidewalk remained closed, and pedestrians continued to be redirected across the street.

Used to serving between 40 or 60 clients daily for lunch, Franois watched those numbers dwindle down to single digits.

Hes taking to Kickstarter now, looking to raise enough funds not to keep the restaurant open, but at least to pay some outstanding bills and not lose his equipment to creditors so he can turn the restaurants brand into a catering business that would continue to offer gluten and lactose-free products.

Even under the best conditions the first few years of opening a restaurant is always a fight, said Franois, sitting in the dim locale, the power having been cut by Hydro-Qubec two weeks ago when he failed to pay a bill on time. Theres seven years worth of early mornings and late nights work that went into this.

Franois says he had a payment agreement with Hydro-Qubec for July 14, but his service was cut unexpectedly a few days before, resulting in nearly $1,000 of meat, dairy products and pre-made meals going to waste in the restaurants fridges.

Its just been one thing after another, said the France-born chef, who moved to Montreal 11 years ago knowing it would be a good fit for his cooking style.

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Comme Chez Soi forced to close by condo construction

The Birchwood restaurant in Riverhead closed suddenly last month. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

A sheet of paper taped to the glass door of The Birchwood restaurant in Polish Town states the restaurant is closed for renovations.

We will be Renovating the Restaurant over the next several weeks!! reads the notice, which was still posted as of Monday and signed The Owner.

Although the sign was posted last month, theres been little sign of construction at the shuttered site.

Andrea Mayer, ex-wife of the restaurants previous owner, James Loo,told the News-Review Monday that the restaurant would undergo cosmetic changes that wouldnt require building permits from Riverhead Town.

Ms. Mayer, who recently took over The Birchwood after Mr. Loos death, said she hopes the restaurant will reopen in the next couple of months and said delays have been caused by legal proceedings.

Itll be open, she said. Itll be new and fresh and good for that area.

The sudden shuttering of the popular Riverhead eatery was the latest in a series of legal filings over the property, from foreclosure actions against Mr. Loo in 2011 to estate proceedings last month which gave the restaurant to his 12-year-old daughter, Amanda, following Mr. Loos death earlier this year.

Ms. Mayer, who divorced Mr. Loo in 2004,was named as administrator of the property last month in her daughters stead.

Although she declined to comment Monday on the fate of the restaurants staff, she said The Birchwood wouldbe under new management when it reopens.

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Revival plans set for The Birchwood after closing last month

Tuesday, July 22, 2014 10:54 PM EDT

By BRIAN M. JOHNSON STAFF WRITER

PLYMOUTH The Eagles Nest Family Restaurant is soaring again.

Loyal customers filled the eatery Tuesday as it re-opened for business after it was forced to close in February following a fire.

The 163 Main St., restaurant is owned by Alim and Vera Ajdari, who undertook repairs following the fire.

On Tuesday customers were once again enjoying the restaurants homemade sausage, eggs, hash browns and biscuits and gravy.

Eagles Nest is open from Tuesday through Sunday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This tragedy really broke me financially, but Im glad to be back on my feet, said Alim Ajdari. Eagles Nest has risen back up and looks great. I thank my returning customers and my employees who waited to come back to their jobs. I am very grateful to them and to the construction workers who did a very good job.

Alim Ajdari said he saw a lot of familiar faces at Eagles Nest Tuesday.

Weve got a lot of regulars because we know how to treat people, he said. Our breakfast cant be beat, and people come from all over to eat here.

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Eagles Nest Family Restaurant re-opens for business

With its original restaurant tenant set to open next month in a different location, the owner of the Wynnewood Shopping Center hopes to revive a plan for an old postal building there.

Federal Realty Investment Trust was before the Lower Merion Township Zoning Hearing Board again July 21, seeking relief from a decision that limits expansion on the 14-acre property at 50 E. Wynnewood Road.

With at least one more witness to be called, the hearing was continued after 3 hours. It will resume at a special meeting Thursday, July 31, at 7:15 p.m. at the Township Building, 75 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore.

PHOTOS: Wynnewood Road in Lower Merion beginning in the 1960s.

It was the third time in two years that Federal Realty had come to the zoning board with an appeal related to a plan for change at the center it has owned since 1996. The company acquired the property after its major anchor of four decades, a John Wanamaker department store, closed its doors.

In 2012 and 2013, it had sought and obtained special exception approval for an LA Fitness club in the former Borders Books building, after quelling community opposition by agreeing to limit hours. The club never pursued locating there.

At the same time, the company had obtained, after lengthy discussion and the imposition of some stringent restrictions on hours and a ban on outdoor music, land development approval from the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners for a new restaurant pad site. The plan called for demolition of the long-vacant mail distribution building at the rear of the center, closest to homes in the Shortridge neighborhood, for construction of a larger restaurant with outdoor seating. The prospective tenant, confirmed at the time, was a Mad Mex restaurant and bar.

Not long after a preliminary plan for the restaurant was approved, the center owners were informed it did not comply with conditions set by the townships zoning authority 60 years earlier, in 1953, when plans for the Wanamakers branch were moving forward. Those conditions, which set caps on building coverage and interior square footage and addressed parking requirements, had apparently been nearly lost to memory over the decades.

Just about a year ago, Federal Realty, which had filed an appeal of the preliminary plan decision with the Montgomery County courts, returned to the zoning board seeking a determination that the 1953 restrictions no longer applied, or to have some of them eliminated.

While hearings and a decision in that matter stretched on vigorously opposed by both Lower Merion Township and Shortridge Civic Association -- Federal Realty moved ahead, confirming earlier this year that it had leased space in the Borders building to Mad Mex. It is expected to open in August in a portion of the ground floor, while the second floor now houses a DSW shoe store. Continued...

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Wynnewood Shopping Center restaurant plan back for zoning relief

Photo courtesy of Grinders

Mitch Gilbert has said it so many times over the past two months: Were open for business during construction!

Now, the energetic owner of Grinders Hot Sands is at his wits end, with business plummeting during a massive improvement project to Aurora Avenue North.

Ive been doing everything I can to put a positive spin on it, he said, but thats not enough.

I dont know how were going to survive this.

The well-loved Grinders shop in Shoreline is one of the best road food stops on the West Coast, with hot sandwiches so stuffed you can almost hear them groan. My favorite is the 1.5-pound Sauball Grinder, preferably consumed during one of Gilberts regular hot jams music shows.

The project imperiling the shop is a worthy one too, the latest segment of the miles of improvements planned for the Aurora Corridor.

The Grinders lot, never spacious, has lost its exit onto a side street, making the lot even tougher to navigate. Its also at least temporarily lost some parking spaces. Gilbert said hes been battling construction crews not to park in the ones that remain. Worst of all is the utility trench being dug in the street in front of the shop, and the accompanying equipment and blizzard of signs, arrows, cones and barrels that discourage diners from stopping in.

Driving by, its easy to understand Gilberts consternation. I couldnt figure out, driving south on the busy highway last week, how to pull into the lot and be sure I could navigate my way out again. I decided Id park further down the road and walk back, but no pedestrian access was allowed.

Since then, luckily, the city has responded to Gilberts plea to add better signage to the construction barrels on the street, and may temporarily re-open his side exit.

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Construction threatens beloved Grinders shop

Updated: Sunday, July 20 2014, 09:02 AM CDT Reported by: Jesse Knutson (JKnutson@sbgtv.com)

One business in particular in Lancaster says summer construction on the Lititz Pike is making it nearly impossible for people to get to their restaurant. The Stockyard Inn on the Lititz Pike in Lancaster is a landmark restaurant and steakhouse. When you step inside, you get a taste of what it was like when Lancaster was home to the largest stockyard east of Chicago but as of last Wednesday, the building built in 1750 has been blocked off by a construction project. Obviously having your front door blocked and the parking lot to your front door blocked is very devastating, say James Fournaris. Fournaris and his family have owned the Stockyard Inn since 1952, and since then, theyve never had a problem like this. We run tight margins and volume is very important in our business, and when volume is decreased, the sales, obviously are affected, revenue is affected, and its very difficult. Other businesses affected by the construction on the Lititz Pike, which is expected to last into October, have special access to their parking lots, but for the Stockyard Inn, customers are forced to take a detour.

The detour signs are very confusing, says Fournaris. To give you an idea of how out of the way you have to drive to get to the Stockyard Inn, we shot video of the drive starting at where the normal entrance to the restaurant is and we sped it up to 30 times the speed. Youll have to drive through 3 stop lights, 2 stop signs, and go through a roundabout before reaching the restaurant. The lack of access has the restaurant wondering what it will mean for their business in the long run. Were concerned and scared! But they understand the construction is necessary, theyre just hoping theyll be afforded better access by construction crews, or given more obvious detour signs. In todays challenging economy, you know, its hard enough having a business and running a business, but not having access for your patrons to come to your front door is quite devastating, Fournaris explained. Despite the construction and possible hardships ahead, the restaurant is ready to serve its customers.

When CBS 21 reached out to PennDOT about the concerns of the Stockyard Inn, a spokesperson told us that they do work with businesses prior to construction in order to put up detour signs for a project. The consultant on this particular job has not returned our call regarding whether anything else could be done to help the restaurant.Lititz Pike construction hurting business for local restaurant

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Lititz Pike construction hurting business for local restaurant

MOORESVILLE, N.C. A Mooresville restaurant is getting ready to close its doors and they might never reopen.

Randy Rodecki, owner of Carolina Ribs on the Run, told WSOC-TV that he racked up debt during the Brawley School Road construction project between 2010 and 2013.

The construction closed the most visible entrance into his restaurants parking lot for several months.

Randy Rodecki, owner of Carolina Ribs on the Run, is getting ready to close his business. (WSOC-TV)

It cost us roughly $850 a day to stay open during the road construction, said Rodecki.

An NCDOT representative told Eyewitness News that the project was necessary because congestion on the former two-lane Brawley School Road ranged from 7,800 to 31,900 daily. The counts are expect to increase between 9,200 to 44,700 by 2030, the representative said.

Rodecki filed complaints with NCDOT and the Department of Justice but was not successful.

Three years of being angry at the state hasnt done anything for me, except make me angrier, so I need to concentrate more on moving my business, keeping my business and on my family, said Rodecki.

Rodecki plans to close his restaurant on Aug. 2. However, hes now turning to the community to try and help him move to a new location.

Rodecki created an account on GoFundMe.com to take donations. He said anyone who donates will be asked to give their email, and the restaurant will give them a gift certificate worth double the donation to use if the restaurant reopens.

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NC barbecue joint owner says road construction is putting him out of business