WE’VE NOW GOT another dining and drinking option downtown.
KILDARE IRISH AMERICAN Pub on Washington Street opened Thursday after receiving their liquor license. They’re facing stiff competition from other established restaurants and bars on Washington Street, but they’ll be doing it with new ownership and new management.
Kildare is offering Irish food along with traditional pub fare. And of course, drinks.
Will it succeed where its predecessors (The Recovery Room, The Wild Rover) struggled?
“It all comes down to leadership (general manager Rick Overbey) and a strong creative team working with him,” says marketing director Sonia Basma.
Overbey was previously the general manager at Hudson’s.
Kildare for now is open from Tuesday through Saturday but it will be open on Sunday, March 17th which, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day.
DISAPPOINTMENT AT ST. Christopher Church in Marquette,
After three decades, the preschool is closing at the end of the school year. The building’s up for sale.
The reason for the sale and closure? Building costs and repairs on the 52-year-old building were just getting too expensive. The roof, the windows, and the lighting all need to be replaced.
The shutdown means that parents of about 75 children will have to find a new daycare facility in town. Some, but not all, will be able to transfer to Father Marquette.
The others? They’re searching.
FINALLY SOME HOPE to alleviate the acute housing shortage in Munsing.
A Detroit company, Renovare Development, has signed a letter of intent to partner with Hall Contracting of Munising to redevelop the historic fire hall as a mixed use building. Hall currently owns the building.
The redevelopment would include some commercial space and 16-40 apartments. The plan is to build on top of the fire hall–maybe an additional four stories–but to keep with the Art Deco architectural theme.
What’s next? A market study, an application for tax credits…and then, optimistically, the start of construction in the summer of 2020.
———————————————————————————————-
ATTENTION, ALL YOU bearded men out there.
A new shop, The Man Cave Hair and Beard Parlor, is opening up at the Village Shopping Center on Third Street in mid April.
Haircuts, yes, but with a special emphasis on caring for and educating you about your beard.
“There’s a big need for it here,” says owner Tonia Curry who, by the way, has nine sons. Nine. And not one daughter.
She and her husband have another shop in Escanaba where, she claims, some of her clients drive over an hour to get that special care for their beard.
ANOTHER ONE BITES the dust.
Famous Footwear is leaving the Westwood Mall on March 24th. They’re currently clearing out the inventory with a huge sale.
The shop, situated at the front of the mall, just wasn’t making it, according to an employee.
The store’s departure comes as a new mall owner takes over, promising to revive the mall which has been on the decline for the last few years. Currently only about one quarter of the available spaces are occupied by businesses.
The new owner of the mall faces a major challenge, to say the least. We wish him luck.
All of us would like to have more, not fewer, shopping options in our hometown.