A new restaurant, with locations in Columbus, will be coming to Union Street.
The lonely facades of decimated buildings on Union Street might be up and running just in time for Fall Semester 2016, Guy Phillips, whose company owns 14 1/2 and 16 W. Union St., said.
Ron Lucas, Athens' Deputy Service Safety Director, had different things to say about the project’s estimated timeframe.
“I do know that some businesses are closer than others,” Lucas said. “Any time you have a big construction project like this where it’s multiple businesses and multiple owners, it’s very difficult to pinpoint a finish date.”
The weather during the rest of winter and spring will have a significant impact on the project’s progress, Lucas said.
“It’s such a moving target in terms of what they can do in terms of the weather, and there are a lot of days that will be lost,” Lucas said. “One good thing about it is that there’s a single contractor, so that helps a lot with coordination.”
Eric Gunn, owner of the Union Bar and Grill, said he also could not give a potential finish date.
“In terms of the Union, we’ve come a long way and work is getting done every day,” Gunn said. “We’re getting a little bit closer.”
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He added that the Union would resettle into its original home at 18 W. Union St. once construction finished.
Though reconstruction is going according to plan, the buildings, specifically 16 W. Union St., still have not received their historical tax credits, Phillips said.
“I’m heartbroken about that,” Phillips said. “Everybody thought for sure we were going to get it.”
The process for obtaining historical tax credit is competitive, as there were twice as many applicants as ever before, Phillips said.
Building owners invested a huge amount of time in order to qualify for the tax credits in the state of Ohio, Phillips said.
“We are going to reapply, and hopefully we’ll get it in the next round,” he said.
Union Street also will be home to new businesses, including a new restaurant that Phillips especially is excited about.
“I’ll let them make the announcement as to who it is,” Phillips said. “I’m familiar with the restaurant, and they have a few of them in Columbus, and they’re terrific.”
Lucas said the Ohio University Credit Union also expressed interest in possibly opening a branch there, but he does not know where the company is in the paperwork.
From a historical standpoint, the look and feel of the new and improved Union Street is going to appear very similar from the outside, Lucas said.
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Lucas also said there have been some ideas floated around about possibly creating new pedestrian walkways to help with traffic flow.
“We aren’t in the nitty-gritty of that yet, and we don’t have any plans,” Lucas said. “It’s just really conceptual.”
Lucas said the new Union Street will be especially appealing to the community.
“Ultimately, when everything is complete, people will have a feel for the old Union Street as it was before the fire, just with some new flavor,” Lucas said.
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