By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The long boarded-up business on East Wooster Street, just east of the railroad tracks, is being demolished today.
The site started out as a Burger Chef fast food restaurant. Over the years it has been occupied by a Hardbodies gym, a hair salon, and The Shed, among other businesses. A fire occurred there more than a decade ago, and the building has been boarded up since.
But on Monday, the eyesore was removed.
“They are tearing it down right now,” Al Green, of A.A. Green Realty, said Monday morning.
In its place, a new structure will be built – with the first floor being a drive-thru Tropical Smoothie business, and the second floor being divided into three apartments. Green said the new building will likely be constructed next spring.
“The idea is to clean up the neighborhood down there, and get rid of an unsightly building,” Green said. “I think it will be a good change.”
A.A. Green recently purchased the property from Andy Halleck. The new building will have an exterior similar to the facade at Market Square, a Green development at the northeast corner of East Wooster and North Prospect streets. A.A. Green recently put a similar facade on the front of rental business sites just to the west of the Dairy Queen on East Wooster Street.
While the appearance of the site will be much improved, the limited parking will remain an issue, Green said. There will be a few parking spaces on each side of the property, plus a drive-thru lane.
“It’s going to be a tight parking area, like any downtown parking,” Green said.
