While the Chinese coronavirus shutdown continues to hurt millions of Texans and businesses across the state, small businesses in North Texas have united to give back to the community that has given them so much.

This Thursday and Friday, Colleyville restaurants Red Barn BBQ, Mother Clucker, Honey Teriyaki, Rio Mambo, Midici, The Neapolitan Pizza Company, and My Lanunited by Facebook group Colleyville Eatsare donating at least 120 meals to the COVID-19 teams of the Grapevine Baylor Scott & White Hospital.

We did dinner for [the Colleyville Fire Department and Police Department], and I was like, Well, if were doing [this] for them, Ive worked at Baylor Grapevine, said Candy Jaimes, whose husband runs Red Barn BBQ.

Candys donation idea just happened to coincide with a similar one at local chicken eatery Mother Clucker.

Originally, I had a customer call me, and she heard about local businesses being affected, so she actually wanted to donate $250 worth of food, which is roughly about 40 plates, said David Oun of Mother Clucker. Oun said the donor left it up to him where to donate the food, and he immediately thought of the hospital.

Right near us, a little bit north, is the Grapevine Baylor Scott & White Hospital. I was actually looking for a way to contact them until Lourdes from Colleyville Eats told me Candy used to work there, so she had contacts.

Oun and Candy joined forces, and the Facebook group Colleyville Eats helped spread the word.

Candy Jaimes from Red Barn BBQ has spearheaded the mission of delivering 120 meals to the COVID-19 unit of Baylor Scott & White in Grapevine this Thursday and Friday, Lourdes McWitheywho runs Colleyville Eatstold Texas Scorecard:

On Tuesday, March 31, she asked me to share this with Colleyville and Grapevine Eats members. So far, the response of local restaurants stepping up to help is tremendousRed Barn BBQ, Mother Clucker, Honey Teriyaki, Rio Mambo, Midici, The Neapolitan Pizza Company, and My Lan have offered to help. Colleyville Eats members are donating to restaurants by monetary donations with credit cards.

Leading the charge on giving is nothing new for Red Barn BBQ. The restaurant was started 15 years ago by Von Husbandsa man well-known in the community for his generosity and kindnesswho lost his battle with cancer last December.

Jaimes, whose husband Noel worked for Husbands for 14 years and now owns Red Barn BBQ, affirmed their commitment to continue his legacy of generosity.

Its 100 percent our goal to carry on his legacy and find different ways to help and just move forward with what he started. He was very generous.

And for this weeks generosity to the hospitals, it wasnt difficult to enlist others in the Colleyville community to help.

I want to do it. [Ive] got to do it, said Scott Choi of Honey Teriyaki. I cannot just receive and receive. I like to give some, too.

These restaurants are making this effort even though theylike many other small businesses in Texasare fighting for survival amid the coronavirus shutdown. Before this, these three Colleyville restaurants were already struggling with the Texas Department of Transportations road construction on State Highway 26 and its interference with business traffic.

Within two years that Ive been here in the business, because of construction on 26, theres about 11 or 12 businesses that went out of business, Choi said.

This is not new for us in [the] Colleyville area, but because of what was going on in Colleyville, because of the construction, there were so many businesses that just went out and they could not sustain the business. Construction is almost done. Now, the coronavirus, he added.

Ounwhose business is nine months oldwas just starting to see some growth when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

At a point in time in early March, late February, it was finally feeling like it was turning around, he said. And then the [coronavirus] started hitting hard. And then, boomovernight, customers just disappeared.

Clearly, its slowed our business tremendously, Jaimes said. We were just starting to see our business pickup, with the roads on 26 starting to be completed, and then this started. So, its just been a difficult time for us.

These businesses give credit to McWitheys Colleyville Eatsfor helping them the past few years.

Choi said McWithey just could not stand hearing about restaurants moving out or not being able to stay in business.

She put this group together pretty much just to help restaurants in the area, Jaimes added. It started off in Colleyville, and now they have Grapevine also.

She just pretty much advertises for small businesses in Colleyville. In situations like this, we have bonded together through Colleyville Eats to let people know which restaurants are open, which restaurants are taking things.

Because of how much the Colleyville community has helped them, these businesses are now giving back to the community and to each other.

Long story short is [were] trying to do what we can, Oun added.

And then the town is really pulling together to donate either food from the other local restaurants or money to provide more food for the nurses [and] the hospital staff. Its been a wonderful team effort, especially since we are a smaller town, so its nice to see our neighbors, our friends, coworkers, family all pulling together to try to support the people helping us.

As to how often theyll be able to make efforts like this, Jaimes says itll have to be a community effort.

It may get to doing a unit a week. It all depends on how many donations we get and how many restaurants that we get that would love to participate.

Financially, we cant do it by ourselves, she added.

Those interested in helping these businesses give to others may contact them and donate over the phone. They are also open for carryout. Red Barn BBQ offers limited delivery, whereas Mother Clucker and Honey Teriyaki offer delivery through third-party services.

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Colleyville Businesses Giving Back to the Community - Texas Scorecard

Umberto Barrero* is just 25 years old, but hes already had a star-studded career in hospitality. He says that he started out washing dishes for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, before moving on to cook in kitchens run by Tom Colicchio and Stephen Starr. He now works in one of the hottest restaurants in New York at least, he used to.

Two weeks ago, most restaurants in the city were shut down as part of an industry-wide effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, and hundreds of thousands of workers lost their jobs overnight. But unlike many of his colleagues, Barrero had no unemployment checks to look forward to. The $2 trillion relief bill that will pay out $1,200 to most Americans wont apply to him either. Barrero is an undocumented worker, one of tens of thousands estimated to be laboring in the back of house of New Yorks restaurant industry. A former line cook who came to the United States from El Salvador in 2011, Barrero now has no income and has begun spending down his savings.

I dont have many other options, said Barrero, whose wife and two children relied on his income as an essential part of their budget.

Undocumented workers are a staple in New York City restaurants, so much so that theres an entire underground economy of fixers that produce paperwork, identification cards, and fake social security numbers that will pass muster for restaurant hiring. According to operators speaking on the condition of anonymity, everybody knows exactly who these people are when they see the paperwork.

But with over 26,000 restaurants in the city and a shortage of workers willing to labor for up to 12 hours a day as a line cook or a dishwasher, restaurants will hire them anyway as long as the identification appears legit and the business has plausible deniability if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes knocking. Some estimate that more than 20 percent of the countrys cooks are undocumented.

Government help is nearly impossible to get, even though undocumented workers in the United States pay $11.74 billion in taxes each year, equivalent to 8 percent of their incomes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. (By comparison, the top 1 percent pays an effective 5.4 percent.) Because undocumented workers are, at least on paper, employees with social security numbers, restaurants still take taxes, unemployment, and social security out of every paycheck. But because the documentation submitted to employers is fake, when it comes time to reap the benefits of those payments, these workers are invisible to the government and get nothing.

The $2 trillion stimulus bill explicitly leaves out undocumented people, and beyond that, it also leaves out immigrants who would otherwise be able to get benefits, such as people who are filing taxes with someone who doesnt have a social security number, according to Rodrigo Camarena, director of the Immigration Advocates Network, the largest network of nonprofit legal advocates committed to defending immigrants.

This administration has made it exceedingly difficult for all immigrants to access government services and benefits, including immigrants with status, Camarena said.

Undocumented immigrant workers despite their critical role in the industry also have few industry advocates or lobbyists to help them in vulnerable times like this. Few people who Eater spoke to were willing to talk on the record about undocumented workers, at the risk of inviting an ICE raid in the middle of service; restaurateurs in particular were reluctant to speak. Organizations that specifically support undocumented workers are rare, and advocates have mostly relied on collecting money via GoFundMe.

Even the Independent Restaurant Coalition, which lobbies the government for more relief for restaurants and its workers and is backed by celebrity chefs like Tom Colicchio and Marcus Samuelsson, did not respond when contacted for comment about how they could help the undocumented workers that undoubtedly keep their kitchens running. There are few resources available for these invisible people, who often are already financially vulnerable.

I dont think that restaurants could exist without undocumented workers, said Nate Adler, who owns Gertie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But Adler, whose restaurant has a fairly small team that doesnt have undocs, as undocumented immigrants are commonly referred to, acknowledged that its a tricky topic to even talk about.

One of the few restaurateurs who has been outspoken about undocumented workers is Trigg Brown, who runs Win Son and Win Son Bakery in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Although he says that he has no undocumented workers at his restaurants, Browns Instagram account has been promoting a fundraiser for undocumented workers in the industry. Its raised more than $30,000, the equivalent of one weeks salary for everyone whos been earmarked for relief. The language on the beneficiaries of the fundraiser is intentionally vague to protect workers.

You have to OJ Simpson it a little, said Brown, referring to Simpsons book If I Did It. As an industry, there is an obligation for us to take care of all of our employees. Just because some people are dealing with documentation challenges doesnt mean we should screw them.

Another restaurateur, who would only speak on background, said that one of the main reasons for doing takeout was to be able to keep the undocumented dishwashers and prep cooks employed. An undocumented operator who was interviewed by New York magazine is staying open for the same reason.

Most restaurants staying open for delivery or takeout, though, are only doing a fraction of their normal volume, with a few notable exceptions. For an industry that operates on razor-thin margins, staying open may not be financially viable, to say nothing about health concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Undocumented workers rarely have access to health insurance Barrero doesnt and some restaurants are closing with worries about exposing more workers to the virus.

There are a small number of options for undocumented workers to get help besides donation funds like Browns. Restaurants like Gertie and Olmsted in Brooklyn are using funds from the Lee Initiative, a restaurant-worker nonprofit, to give away meals to unemployed restaurant workers, four days a week, and they are not asking for immigration status. There are also a limited number of foundations, churches, and nonprofits establishing funds to provide support for undocumented families. These funds are critical for immigrant families who are already afraid to access public assistance and currently find themselves unemployed and desperate for immediate assistance, said Camarena.

These programs may help undocumented workers tread water, but the tidal wave is coming. April 1 is just around the corner, and with it comes bills and rent that will be due. Restaurants and hundreds of thousands of laid off New Yorkers will face their first major make-or-break moment. For most of these undocumented workers who have been out of work for over two weeks and dont have the prospect of government aid, desperation is beginning to set in.

We can survive for one month with the cash that weve saved, said Barrero, who lives in a small Queens apartment with six other people, including his two children and wife.

Barrero theorized that he could work in construction as a day laborer as a last resort, but that was before New York banned all nonessential construction work. There is no government assistance. Something has to happen, he said. How will I pay my rent? How will I pay my bills?

Although members of Congress are already talking about another COVID-19 relief bill, senators have taken a recess until April 20. Legislation is likely a month away, and there are no guarantees there will be any relief that will positively impact undocumented workers. By then, a lot of their savings will have already run out, and Mays rent and bills will be due. Without their former front-of-house coworkers and restaurant owners to fight for them, many may end up on the street.

The tunnel for undocumented families is very long and dark, said Camarena.

*Name has been modified to protect his identity

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Coronavirus in NYC: Undocumented Restaurant Workers Are the Forgotten Victims of the Shutdown - Eater NY

Theres no single clear trend other than fear and confusion as the property world waits out the coronavirus fallout. The chaos impacts development, leasing, finance and all points between.

Here are our takes on several key situations.

RETAIL RENT PAYMENTS: The situations in flux after the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Nike is in talks to pay half the rent on its hundreds of US stores. Prolific Manhattan broker James Famularo of Meridian Capital, whos handled many retail and restaurant leases in Manhattan, told us hes heard from many tenants asking for 50 percent reductions for the balance of 2020, some asking for three-month abatements and some mostly small, undercapitalized businesses canceling leases permanently.

Its too early to say what the norm is at this point, but nobody can pay rent while theyre closed. The only ones making money are markets and liquor stores.

COMMERCIAL LOANS: Trepp managing partner Manus Clancy said, I think its wait and hope for most lenders. Give extensions and forbearances as needed, especially when you know the developer is only having these issues because of COVID. I think that will be the case with performing loans on established hotel and retail properties for the next few months. No one wants to have to sell off assets in this market if you have an owner that is still engaged.

HOWARD HUGHES CORP.: The publicly traded Seaport District owner got a boost when Pershing Square Capital head Bill Ackman, whos also HHCs board chairman, agreed on Friday to buy 10 million additional shares of HHC stock at $50 each.

The transaction nets HHC $488 million, and leaves the company with about $1 billion in cash, which bodes well for its US properties far from South Street.

HHC said it would use the proceeds for general corporate purposes including to strengthen the balance sheet and provide liquidity. The good news wasnt enough to save 10 Corso Como, the 18,000-square-foot Italian design store and restaurant at the Seaports Fulton building. Both just closed permanently by mutual agreement between HHC and the stores owners, who attributed it partly to uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

550 MADISON AVE.: Olayan Americas investment in the former Sony tower $1.4 billion to buy and $300 million to redesign appears not to be threatened. Although the job will surely be delayed beyond a planned completion this year, sources said the company carries very low debt on the property and should be able to ride out the storm. Negotiations continue with Perella Weinberg and another prospective tenant for a large lease.

660 FIFTH AVE.: Things might not look as rosy for the tower formerly known as 666 Fifth, where Brookfield paid Kushner Cos. $1.3 billion for the ground lease in 2018. Brookfield also plans to put up to $400 million into a top-to-bottom redesign of the empty 1.5-million-square-foot tower, but the job has a long way to go.

Also, They chose the wrong time to empty the building of tenants, one observer said. And there are lingering conspiracy theories about presidential adviser Jared Kushners role and the involvement of a Qatari fund that invested in a Brookfield division. Kushner no longer has an active role in his familys company, and Qatar denied knowing about the 666 deal beforehand, but, Tenants will proceed more carefully, our source said.

A Brookfield rep said, Full construction was not contemplated until the end of the year or early next year so the construction shutdown will not have a material impact.

RESIDENTIAL CLOSINGS: Jamie Heiberger, president of Manhattan real estate law firm Heiberger & Associates, said, While offering plans generally allow for delays typically six months or a year prolonged setbacks often do kill deals because at some point the buyer can walk away. When this occurs due to an exogenous shock, it could trigger a chain reaction that causes projects to default on their loans. During the 2008 financial crisis, waves of buyers tried to renege on their deposits for new developments after real estate and stock prices collapsed.

But while, Certainly the same is possible as a result of the construction shutdown, Heiberger was optimistic that it wouldnt happen this time.

For one thing, she said, if the shutdown is over in a month or two, Construction can resume a lot faster in warm weather and make up for lost time.

And business isnt quite dead. We closed six deals last week and a few this week, compared with a past average of 40 to 60 deals each month.

Under the new rules, brokers cant show spaces. But the interruption in deed recordings isnt as disastrous as some reports made it seem.

Were doing escrow agreements and not holding up closings for condos, she said.

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How coronavirus chaos is impacting everything in the property world - New York Post

COVID-19 has hit restaurants hard, forcing many to brace for an uncertain future and even shutter permanently. But some Metro Detroit restaurants and chefs are not only figuring out ways to survive, but also give back at the same time.

Ron Bartell, owner of Kuzzos Chicken and Waffles, reopened the popular Avenue of Fashion restaurant at arguably the worst time March 14, two days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered all restaurants to halt dine-in services. But that hasnt stopped Bartell from giving back even though his restaurant is facing an unprecedented challenge of navigating a pandemic. Hes part of a collective of restaurateurs and chefs dubbed Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen for Good, including chefs Maxcel Hardy of Coop Caribbean Fusion, Phil Jones of Ma Haru, and Genevieve Vang of Bangkok 96 Street Food, as well as restaurateurs like Bartell and Stephanie Byrd of The Block and Flood's Bar and Grille. The chefs have been meeting at Horatio Williams Foundation to cook donated perishable food for people facing hunger and homelessness.

Bartell isnt the only one in Metro Detroit helping the community as coronavirus sweeps through Detroit and Michigan, which was fourth in the nation as of Monday afternoon for confirmed cases. From food boxes for veterans and the elderly to operating a vegan food pantry, restaurants are finding new ways to help amid their own businesses struggles.

Kuzzos had been closed for the previous several months to do renovations and train staff. While the closure was planned, the construction on Livernois moved up the timeline. After several months of being closed, Bartells staff was excited to get back to work and that weekend, the restaurant saw about 900 people come through, normal business for a Saturday and Sunday.

Then he had to change the business model midstream and cut staff from 42 to 16, Bartell says. Kuzzos is doing carryout and delivery, but Bartell says hes not sure how long its sustainable. Margins are already paper thin and we still have fixed costs that arent changing.

But the communitys support is one of the reasons why Bartell wants to help those disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Weve been blessed over the years and the community has supported us so much. We want to help where we can. [The pandemic] puts things into perspective. Money and notoriety arent everything but having each others backs, that means everything.

David Rudolph, publicist for the restaurant and most of the chefs involved in the culinary collaborative effort, says Bartell was one of the first who expressed interest in finding a way to help people in need. Then Byrd of Midtowns The Block had perishable items that would otherwise go to waste, and Hardy offered to cook whatever was available.

These owners and chefs are committed to helping Detroit so they donated some of their perishable foods to help feed those in need, Rudolph says, adding It's tough enough dealing with a worldwide pandemic, then to be homeless, hungry, and for many not knowing when, or where to find their next meal. Some may call us stupid, foolish or crazy but we are leaders who lead, want to make a difference and will not cower to the coronavirus.

Another restaurant business looking to give back is Nosh Pit in Hamtramck. The vegan restaurant is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for carryout but has lost most of its business. Last year, about 30% of Nosh Pits sales came from the restaurant, and the rest came from catering and events, says co-owner Karen Schultz. She estimates from the canceled events, the restaurant is losing $30-50,000 a month.

Despite those losses, the restaurant has found a way to spur sales while helping out through a new program that offers an anonymous way for people in need to get vegan groceries or hot meals. People can seek or offer help on Nosh Pits website, and its bringing people in, Schultz says.

We're doing the best we can. And what's nice is [customers] are buying gifts for other people and that is keeping more business going in our restaurant, she says.

From the first weekend they started, they gave away $120 in free meals and fulfilled 16 requests for grocery items. It started with trying to connect people with items like gluten-free bread, then a request from Sasha Farms for help with grocery shopping, then collecting and redistributing produce from producers.

I inadvertently set up a vegan food pantry, she says.

The pandemic has been hard on the business and her personally but Schultz says, I'm choosing to do what I can to help other people while still helping my business.

Over at Indo restaurant in Keego Harbor in Oakland County, Southwest Detroit native Nik Alonzo and his wife, Melik, started preparing for the pandemic before it took a foothold in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. The two lived in Hong Kong for several years where they still have friends, and Alonzo was hearing from them the severity of the situation. Indo enacted safety protocols, including not allowing customers or vendors into the building, to reduce exposure and slid carry-out orders through their roll-up garage dooreven before the mandate from the governor to close. That week, business was horrible, he says.

By the following week, business picked up again. He also got an idea while delivering food to a friend, a veteran with several health problems. The friend was self-isolating to stay healthy and called Alonzo if he had any food, and Alonzo was happy to deliver some.

On his way back to the restaurant, I'm just thinking to myself, you know, I bet you there's a lot of veterans that are in the exact same spot that he's in right now. They can't and maybe don't have any friends or [other support].

The Alonzos started providing food boxes for veterans, elderly, and at-risk residents, and began crowdfunding to pay for the meals, raising about $1,500 so far. Theyve been able to provide 20 meals a day for people in need for the past two weeks. He adds that he's looking for another restaurant to partner up to help and make food on days Indo can't.

Since we started this program for the veterans that actually increased our business a lot, he says. People want to help people that are helping out in their community.

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Amid challenges brought on by COVID-19, Metro Detroit chefs and restaurants find ways to give back - Concentrate

There are no new Portland restaurants in the time of COVID-19. Somehow, though, there is new pizza. Chef Joshua McFadden's new joint, Cicoria, wasn't supposed to open until spring or early summer inside the former Roman Candle space, which is still under construction. But the "tavern-style" pie developed by McFadden and baker Daniel Green was already dialed in. So with McFadden's other restaurants, Ava Gene's and Tusk, pivoting to socially distanced takeout, adding pizza to the dinner menu just made sense. Call it the longest, biggest "friends and family" preview ever. There are four standard piescheese, pepperoni, white and pomodoroplus a daily special. You can also get everything from eggs and raw cookie dough to Tusk labne and McFadden's Caesar dressing. Order online, pull into the parking lot at a pre-appointed time, open your trunk, and let an Ava Gene's staffer bring it out to you.

The pizzas are cut cross- and length-wise into little squaresthe "party" or "tavern" cut found all over the Midwest, originally in bars that had no kitchen. Not all pieces are the same. "It's like a personality test almost," says McFadden. "Like who wants a little corner, who wants the square one, who wants the inside ones? It's become kind of a funny little game at the restaurant."

But Cicoria brings quality ingredients to a style of pizza originally meant to be washed down with Schlitz. The flour is freshly milled and regional, the crust is 50 percent whole wheat, and while it's crispier than Neapolitan or a foldable New York slice, it's neither buttery nor greasy like Chicago thin crust.

The pies feature a mix of fresh mozzarella, which is hand-pulled in-house, and aged mozzarella, uncooked sauce (California tomatoes milled with salt) and Italian oregano, which comes dried on its branches. "For whatever reasonwell, no surprisethey do it best," says McFadden. "It's quite concentrated and very fragrant."

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Joshua McFadden Opened a New Pizza Restaurant in the Middle of a Pandemic. Thank Goodness. - Willamette Week

A lengthy improvement project to County Home Road begins on Monday. Getting to the completion is going to result in inconvenience for many Linn County drivers over the next 17 months.

The construction will cover County Home Road from North Center Point Road to the bridge a half-mile west of Highway 13. Work begins Monday, April 6 with the closure of County Home Road for work on Phases 2 and 3 (in green and purple below). Phase 1 (in orange below) is expected to begin in September of 2020.

The construction will consist of concrete paving and the addition of right and left-turn lanes at every intersection. Single-lane roundabouts are also being added at the C Avenue Extension and Alburnett Road intersections. Each roundabout will be designed to handle farm equipment and large trucks.

During the construction, only local traffic will be allowed on County Home Road. Traffic can cross County Home Road at any of the intersections that are not under construction at a given time. As long as there's no fresh concrete, local traffic will be able to access their properties.

A detour will be in effect for all other County Home Road traffic throughout the project. The detour is shown in the graphic above (in red). Here are the specifics:

Horsfield Construction of Epworth, Iowa is responsible for the nearly $8 million project. The contract calls for 240 working days to complete the upgrades. It's expected to be finished in August of 2021.

You can learn more about the County Home Road improvement project HERE.

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County Home Road Construction/Closures Begin Next Week - khak.com

A local construction company which has had a hand in building some of the citys favourite food joints is sending meals from Toronto restaurants to hospitals.

Build it by Design has brought to life local locations of Jollibee, Chick-fil-A, Extreme Pita, Mucho Burrito, and many more. These quick-service spots have become havens for hungry lunch-timers in Toronto.

Now, while most of the city self-isolates, small and independently-owned food joints arent getting the traffic thats necessary to keep them afloat. To support those spots, Build by Design it is placing large orders from these eateries and sending them to frontline emergency workers at hospitals in the GTA.

This will continue every week for the next four to eight weeks, George Thomas, at Build It, tells Daily Hive.

By selecting different restaurants in the city and placing large orders to support them and then sending it out to different hospitals to help the front line workers.

Already, the construction company has teamed up with Basil Box, Fidel Gastros, Masrawy Kitchen, Samis Kitchen, and Krispy Kreme, and theyre working to connect to more spots in the weeks to come.

Deliveries are set to begin on Tuesday, starting at Mount Sinai before visiting Trillium Mississauga, too. The team is also working to organize deliveries with North York General Hospital, St. Michaels, St. Josephs Health Centre, and more.

In order to identify which restaurants to align their mission with, the team at Build It looked to the eateries that are part of One Table.

The coalition of independent Canadian restaurateurs and suppliers have come together to create a unified voice for the industry during these tumultuous times.

One Table is workingin conjunction with several other organizations such asRestaurants Canada, theBritish Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association,andSave Hospitality which has releaseda detailed plan outlining the needsof independent restaurants in Canada.

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Local construction company sending meals to Toronto hospitals | Dished - Daily Hive

Lady Gaga's father is refusing to pay $260,000 in rent and fees for hisrestaurant at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, saying the homelesspopulation is hurting his business.

Joe Germanotta, owner of Art Bird & Whiskey Bar, said he wants theMetropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees the busy commuter train station,to renegotiate his rent or release him from his lease, which expires in 2028, TheWall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Germanotta and other business owners on the terminal's lower concourse saidthey are struggling because of a homelessness problem, rodent infestation, andoutdated furniture and facilities.

Top news stories in the tri-state area, in America and around the world

"I want to stay," Germanotta said. "I just can't afford tounder these conditions."

Several restaurateurs said that they regret securing a lease and that monthly payments consume 30% or more of their gross revenues double what they would expect to pay at another location in the city, the Journal reported in December.

The Journal reviewed a letter from the MTA to Germanotta telling him if hisdebt was not paid within two weeks, the authority would begin the process ofrepossessing the property.

If an agreement can't be reached with the MTA, Germanotta said, he plans toseek more than $1.5 million for investments in the restaurant, construction andloss of business.

Germanotta attended an MTA board meeting Monday and told commissioners thehomelessness and state of public restrooms is causing business owners in theterminal to struggle.

MTA board member Neal Zuckerman acknowledged the homelessness in theterminal, citing "loitering and frankly harassment" of commuters.

But MTA Police Chief Al Stiehler said officers will not eject people who areabiding by terminal rules.

"These are people, they are suffering, they need help, they needassistance and we will do everything we can every day to provide them the helpthat they need," Stiehler said. "We are very mindful to protect theirrights."

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Lady Gagas Father Says Homeless Population is Hurting His Grand Central Restaurant - NBC New York

An image of what a new bank building will look like at the corner of Main and Monarch streets. Construction begins March 1.Courtesy rendering

An image of what the Base2 Lodge would have looked like at the corner of Main and Monarch streets. Voters in 2015 shot the proposal down and a bank building will be constructed this year.Courtesy rendering

The Conoco gas station at 232 Main St. will be demolished in the next month to make way for a bank.Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times

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Construction is set to begin this week on a prominent corner in downtown Aspen on Main Street that will be the location of a bank.

Landlord Mark Hunt and his development partner Centaur Construction are building on the former site of Conoco gas station at 232 E. Main St., and demolition and tank removal are scheduled to take a month, with construction of the new building to be completed by this fall and interior work through early 2021.

Chase Bank will occupy the new building, which is designed as a contemporary interpretation of a mountain chalet.

Im really excited about this building, more than any other in our portfolio, said Spiro Tsaparas, CEO of Centaur, who along with Hunt, are developing several properties in town, including the redevelopment of the Crystal Palace into a boutique hotel on Hyman Avenue.

The Main Street property, which Hunt bought for $6 million in 2014, was originally envisioned to be developed into a commercial building.

But after Hunt was approached by then-Mayor Steve Skadron, who wanted to fill a niche of affordable accommodations in town, Hunt changed plans and designed a 37-room, three-story lodge.

But a majority of Aspen voters shot down the proposal in 2015 after City Council referred a ballot question that was initiated by a citizens group, led by Councilman Ward Hauenstein prior to him being elected.

The vote was instigated by a petition drive that successfully aimed to overturn City Councils variances given to the lodge. Those concessions included giving the lodge more than three times its allowable floor area for the site, 15,000 square feet, in addition to variances for employee housing and setbacks. However, the building met the allowable volume envelope requirements at the time, according to Tsapras.

Hunt and his team campaigned heavily, spending about $50,000, but it wasnt enough to convince residents that a lodge was better than a commercial building.

Unfortunately, all of our efforts of knocking on doors and campaigning did not yield a successful result for us, Tsaparas said. It was a business decision to make it a bank.

Instead of what could have been millions of dollars in sales tax revenue with a lodge and restaurant, the building will house what will be the towns eighth financial institution.

Over 60% of the electorate chose the commercial building over the lodge, because they worried about density, traffic and where guests were going to park since onsite parking was not part of the proposal.

The new building, which was approved by the citys Historic Preservation Commission in 2017, will be roughly 5,900 square feet and 21 feet tall.

The two-story building is well below the allowed height limit and is designed to blend into Main Streets historic district, according to the application filed with the historic commission by land-use planner Sara Adams.

It incorporates lively outdoor space to energize Main Street, and redefines the street corner, she wrote. The proposed building is a fresh approach to new construction in the historic district that blends Victorian and modern by drawing inspiration from the gable forms of the historic Victorians and the deep overhang of the chalet style represented by the Cortina Lodge (next door).

The corner lot also will have landscaped areas and sidewalks, creating a better pedestrian experience than what is currently there with the gas station parking lot.

Hunt will mitigate for nearly eight full-time employees generated by the development, which he will do with housing credits.

Chase, currently located in a Hyman Avenue Mall building Hunt and his investors own, is expected to move to Main Street next year.

csackariason@aspentimes.com

Originally posted here:
Construction of new bank on Aspen's Main Street set to begin - Aspen Times

By CANDY NEALcneal@dcherald.com

HUNTINGBURG McDonalds is looking to construct a restaurant in Huntingburg in 2021.

But, according to the development group who owns the property, the public should not get too excited yet since the plan is not yet set in stone.

I wouldnt hold my breath, said Mike Uebelhor of Uebelhor Developments, because they may change it again.

Uebelhor Developments owns the property destined for the fastfood restaurant, at the southwest corner of Main and Sixth streets, also known as U.S. 231 and State Road 64. The Huntingburg company will continue to own the property. McDonalds started leasing the land from the company this year, Uebelhor said.

Restaurant officials did not tell Uebelhor when construction would start next year.

They said the construction has been pushed back to sometime in 2021, he said. Its been one delay after another.

McDonalds representatives told city officials back in 2018 that construction would start in 2019 or 2020. The company received permits in 2018 for what was to be a $1.5 million project. Construction documents for a McDonald's restaurant in Huntingburg were also filed with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security that year.

The Huntingburg, Indiana area remains a viable option for a McDonalds location," a McDonald's spokesperson told The Herald last August. "However, there are no definitive details or timelines to disclose at this time. The Herald has reached out to McDonald's again for another updated.

Huntingburg Planning Director Paul Lake said that if the company is looking to build next year, it will likely need to renew permits. The company has not yet done that, he said, but it could be done later this year and still be ready for 2021 construction.

The land is the former site of a Marathon gas station that was demolished years ago.

The rest is here:
McDonald's still in the works for Huntingburg - The Herald