By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Two years after Jed’s served up its last chicken “fireball” in Bowling Green, the site at the downtown four corners is being remodeled to be used as a bank.
Chase Bank has signed a lease with owner Bob Maurer for the old Millikin Hotel property at the southeast corner of South Main and East Wooster streets.
“They have committed to the site and are actively remodeling it,” Maurer said this morning.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank National Association is still waiting for state and federal approval of the location, but bank officials are confident those approvals will be forthcoming, Maurer said.
The site, with its bright yellow storefront, has been sitting vacant for two years.
“It needed a lot of work,” Maurer said. “It had been a bar for many years, and it needed a major facelift.”
The site gets a lot of vehicular and foot traffic, but no real bites until Chase bank.
“We had inquiries, but nothing panned out until Chase came along,” he said.
The bank is planning a major remake for the site – investing about $3 million, according to Maurer.
“It will be completely new,” he said.
Maurer said the downtown location, with no room for a drive-thru window, seemed like an unusual site for a bank.
“We did give them numerous alternatives, but they definitely wanted to be downtown at the four corners,” he said.
Chase will have a walk-up ATM on the Wooster Street side. The main entrance will be off South Main Street, and will open up into a different type of banking business, Maurer said.
“It will almost be like walking into a very nice living room. It won’t be like a typical bank. It will be very formal.”
