Chicago's newest harbor at 31st Street has filled less than half its boat slips, but it's about to make a splash.

A floating swimming pool, a pool deck and washroom facilities are under construction, and a floating restaurant is planned for the city's harbor, now in its third season.

In fact, crews removed a few boat slips from the harbor, which opened in 2012, to install the pool, deck and bathroomsall of which are on the same dock.

A harbor manager said that doesn't mean they're getting out of the boat-docking business.

"We are continuing to try to attract more boaters there," said Scott Stevenson, vice president of Westrec Marinas, which manages the city's harbor system.

The pricetag for the new pool and bathrooms is pegged at $1.6 million and was paid for by revenue bonds to be repaid with boater fees.The pool deck will be furnished with lounge chairs and cabanas and the bathrooms operational in the coming days, while the pool is expected to be completed in the next two weeks, Stevenson said.

Boaters who dock at the harbor won't have to pay to use the the pool and bathrooms; rather, use of the facilities are included in their slip fees, Stevenson said. Residents and tourists who don't own boats must fork over $12 for a one-day guest pass or $240 annual membership, he said.

Steps away from the harbor, it's free to dip your toes in the lake at 31st Street beach. But the $12 fee to use the new pool is fair, said Alyce Scott as she sat on the sand. "I would probably try it just to try something different," said Scott, 26, of Hyde Park.

The park district runs dozens of pools across the city and there is no entrance fee to hop in the pools.

Plans are in the works, too, for a restaurant at the harbor. The Chicago Park District, the umbrella city agency that oversees the harbors, is awaiting proposals to design, build and operate the restaurant. There's no pricetag for the restaurant, officials say, but the plan is to build it next to the pool, Stevenson said. The eatery will be open to the public.

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Floating pool in Lake Michigan

TAMPA This is more than a restaurant.

Its Ulele.

In 16 days, the much-anticipated native-inspired restaurant featuring a menu with foods symbolic of the areas pre-European tribal cultures and pioneer days will reveal its charms.

From a strictly physical standpoint, its a 6,800-square-foot, red-brick warehouse with a cathedral ceiling of crisscrossed whitewashed pine beams. A polished concrete floor supports an enormous circular stainless-steel barbacoa grill where Parmesan oysters on the half shell and Berkshire pork chops glazed with guava will roast.

A wooden-stepped staircase dissects the restaurant. It leads to two elevated wooden-floor dining mezzanines that overlook an oyster-shucking station downstairs and a bar with arrowheads and shells embedded in the countertop. Dining room windows provide views of tangerine sunsets over the Hillsborough River, perfect for enjoying chilled Florida avocado soup, fish broiled in kumquat brown butter and crispy pork shank with spicy apple Craisin chutney.

On the buildings north side is a beer garden outside a brewhouse stocked with tall, shiny kettles. Along the southern face, stately palms fan out over a grassy lawn and a spring that empties cool, crystal water into a root beer-colored lagoon where a bronze statue of a mythic native girl will stand watch.

Invisible to customers will be the hopes and ambitions of those who brought the project to life.

Nothing on the menu will hint at 61-year-old restaurateur Richard Gonzmarts burning passion to create Ulele as a legacy for future generations of his family, which first opened Ybor Citys Columbia Restaurant in 1905. Born three blocks away from the water works, he and brother Casey, who together oversee the Columbia Restaurant Group, grew up playing on nearby streets and skiing on the river. The water that comes from the adjacent spring filled the water glasses and pots of their great-grandfathers restaurant and the bottles of the Ybor brewery where he worked before the Columbia came into being.

There will be no plaque commemorating Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorns steering the project toward the Gonzmarts deep pockets so the dilapidated, 112-year-old former city water works building could become a catalyst for urban renewal in Tampa Heights.

And diners wont see the more than $6 million the city spent to refurbish the largely unused Water Works Park into a riverfront playground that will act as a magnet for restaurant patrons. Or that Ulele will provide a destination for walkers, joggers and cyclists on the $4.3 million final leg of the Tampa Riverwalk. Or that the park will be a bellwether for the $7 million restoration of Perry Harvey Sr. Park on the rivers western shore south of Interstate 275.

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Ulele, a restaurant for the next century

New restaurant construction moving forward in Vincennes
News 10 WTHI.

By: WTHI-TV

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New restaurant construction moving forward in Vincennes - Video

One of the commercial construction permits issued in the second quarter was for this Pollo Tropical restaurant on Dunlawton Avenue in Port Orange.

DAYTONA BEACH The number of new home and commercial construction permits issued across Volusia County in the second quarter of the year dipped when compared to the first quarter and the same three-month period a year ago.

However, county officials are taking a wider view of building activity.

In my personal view, one quarter does not a trend make and we need to wait and see for the next quarters, said Rob Ehrhardt, Volusia Countys economic development director, during Fridays quarterly economic development briefing at Daytona Beach International Airport attended by more than 150 people.

Volusia County and its 16 cities issued 280 new single-family home construction permits in the April-through-June quarter, according to data compiled by the economic development division. Thats down 18 percent from the same period a year ago and down 19 percent from the first quarter.

Timing is one reason for the dip, builders said. Permits are usually issued two to three months after a sales contract is signed. Since sales cooled late in the first quarter due to severe bad weather in the Midwest and Northeast, second quarter permit activity took a slight hit.

Residential permit activity for the first half of the year, however, is better than it was a year ago.

There were 628 home construction permits issued January through June. Thats up almost 8 percent from the 582 permits issued in the first six months of 2013. Its also the highest level for the first half of any year since 2008 when 666 permits were issued.

We are not seeing a flattening out, just the opposite. Our sales are up, said Jim Mather, vice president of Paytas Homes in Port Orange.

The homebuilder has sold 58 homes through July, mostly in its Promenade subdivision in New Smyrna Beach. The company sold 65 in all of last year.

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Permit activity, unemployment rate decline in 2nd quarter

Rudy's Diner Bar and Grill is scheduled to open in about six weeks in the former Star City Restaurant building at 1406 Center St. in Bethlehem. (RYAN KNELLER / August 8, 2014)

11:28 a.m. EDT, August 8, 2014

On a recent visit, I learned that husband and wife Olvin and Carla Buezo of Nazareth are having the building gutted and remodeled to house Rudys Diner Bar and Grill (Olvins middle name is Rudy) in about six weeks.

The Buezos, who have operated Franks Italian Restaurant on Route 248 in Lower Nazareth Township for 16 years, are adding new everything, including furniture, flooring and kitchen equipment, Carla Buezos said.

Hours will be 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 a.m.-midnight Friday through Sunday.

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Diner coming to Bethlehem's former Star City Restaurant

Veraci Pizza Spokane, the popular mobile pizza cart, has opened its permanentlocation in Kendall Yards. Construction finished ahead of schedule, and owners Seth and Laura Carey were able to open the restaurant July 16. The eatery features a clay wood-fired pizza oven, built by Seth Carey, as well as a patio overlooking the Spokane River, a light and airy modern dining room, and a front counter where pizza is available by theslice.

Veracis other wood-fired pizza oven will still be carted to local farmers markets andfestivals.

Hours: 11 a.m. to close (likely 9 p.m

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Veraci Pizza Spokane, the popular mobile pizza cart, has opened its permanentlocation in Kendall Yards. Construction finished ahead of schedule, and owners Seth and Laura Carey were able to open the restaurant July 16. The eatery features a clay wood-fired pizza oven, built by Seth Carey, as well as a patio overlooking the Spokane River, a light and airy modern dining room, and a front counter where pizza is available by theslice.

Veracis other wood-fired pizza oven will still be carted to local farmers markets andfestivals.

Hours: 11 a.m. to close (likely 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 10 or 11 p.m. on Thursday, Friday andSaturday)

Address: 1333 W. SummitParkway.

Contact: (509) 389-0029; http://www.veracipizza.com/spokane.

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Veraci Pizza now open in Kendall Yards - Fri, 08 Aug 2014 PST

Scaling the rock-climbing features, speeding around the ice-skating ribbon and strolling through the soon-to-open Maggie Daley Park would make anyone hungry.

So the Chicago Park District has decided a restaurant and food kiosk should go up in the downtown park, which remains under construction.

The park district is seeking bids for a firm that can design, build and open a "high quality" restaurant, run a concession stand in a picnic area and handle catering special events in the new park.

Before that stretch at the north end of Grant Park was torn up to repair the roof of a subterranean parking garage, it was known as Daley Bicentennial Plaza and home to The Green at Grant Park, a seasonal alfresco cafe with a miniature golf course.

The renovation, estimated at $55 million when the project began construction in 2012, will feature an ice-skating ribbon, climbing wall, play garden, field house and picnic groves surrounded by lush landscaping. The park is being paid for with a combination of public and private funding.

Work on what will be the 28-acre Maggie Daley Park named for Chicago's one-time first lady, who died in 2011 is projected to be completed this winter with additional plantings in the spring.

Across the street at Millennium Park is the Park Grill. The city is trying to break the lease with the clout-heavy restaurant operator, which made the concession deal with the park district, according to the Chicago Tribune. Under the controversial deal, the restaurant pays about $250,000 annually in rent based on a percentage of sales but not for water, gas, garbage pickup or property taxes.

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Restaurant to open in Maggie Daley Park

Published: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 11:00 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 11:38 p.m.

Northport will get a second Waffle House early next year.

The Atlanta-area restaurant chain has acquired property in front of the Lowe's store at 5703 McFarland Blvd. and expects to start construction in January 2015, said Waffle House spokesman Patrick Warner. The company hopes to open the restaurant in March 2015, he said.

Waffle House has a restaurant at 1925 McFarland Blvd., Northport, plus four restaurants in Tuscaloosa and another in Cottondale.

Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon said Waffle House's decision to add a second restaurant in his city reflects the growth that is occurring in the Northport area and said he understands that the restaurant chain could be looking for additional sites.

The site will put the new restaurant in a high-volume corridor that is expected to attract not only local customers but also those coming into the Tuscaloosa area from Pickens County and east central Mississippi.

We are just happy to have another there, Warner said. McFarland (Boulevard) is a good area. ... We look at traffic volumes and ask whether an area can support another Waffle House.

He said he had no information about any additional restaurants being planned in the Tuscaloosa area.

Waffle House last added a restaurant in the Tuscaloosa market in early 2012 when it opened a restaurant on the Strip at the corner of Gene Stallings Avenue and University Boulevard. That same year it rebuilt its current Northport restaurant.

Waffle House restaurants are sit-down diners that are open 24/7, 365 days a year. Once we open, we never close, Warner said.

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Northport to get another Waffle House

Wednesday, August 6, 11:26 AM EDT

By Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor

The restaurant opened Sept. 23, 2010, and says on the blackfinnameripub.com site that in celebration of its four-year anniversary, it is bringing an updated look, new menu items, cocktails on tap, a private dining room and more.

Sachse Construction & Development Corp., based in Detroit, Mich., pulled permits Friday for a two-phase interior renovation of the almost 9,700-square-foot building and its 2,400-square-foot patio area.

Blackfinn Jax LLC operates the restaurant, at 4840 Big Island Drive, No. 5, in The Markets at Town Center adjacent to St. Johns Town Center.

Hostess Danielle Hancock said Tuesday the work should be completed Aug. 23. She said there will be more seating with the removal of a wall between the grill and dining room; wall murals, new painting, new TVs and other features in the saloon; and painting and more TVs on the patio.

Each of the two permits shows a job cost of $96,760, totaling $193,520.

Blackfinn Ameripub describes itself as born to be a whole new generation of the classic American pub, a lively restaurant and bar that offers the affordable, craveable American food our guests want to eat.

The menu includes steaks, burgers, seafood, pasta, chicken, ribs, wings, sandwiches, flatbreads, salads and more, including beer, wine and cocktails.

Investor buys Seminole Club, starts Sweet Petes renovations

Excerpt from:
Blackfinn Ameripub renovating St. Johns Town Center location

By GREG KENNELTY

Staff Writer

Demolition of the storm-damaged McLoones Rum Runner restaurant was completed July 21, and construction is expected to begin on a new building in August, with a projected spring reopening. SEA BRIGHT Vestiges of the Rum Runner remain on the Ocean Avenue site where Tim McLoone hopes a new restaurant will be ready to open its doors to customers by spring.

We demolished the old building on [July 21] and it will probably take about a month to get the property in shape to actually start building, McLoone said.

We have to yank out the old foundation and then do remediating and inspection and bulkheading, too, since when the old dock came apart, it damaged them.

We anticipate sometime in August is when we will be building the new place and we hope to be ready by next spring.

The Sea Bright Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved he application for the demolition and reconstruction of the restaurant on April 8.

The new, three-story restaurant, which will retain the Rum Runner name, will seat 298 patrons in indoor and outdoor dining areas including a second-floor mezzanine.

The architecture and ambience will reflect McLoones penchant for classic design as interpreted by architectural firm Anderson Campanella.

I know how to design a restaurant on the inside, but we hired them to do the building because I love that Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket look, and they can do that. I just want it to look like it has always been there, he said.

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McLoone seeks spring reopening for Rum Runner