Whiting lakefront restaurant work delayed

WHITING| The construction of a lakefront restaurant at the site of the former Gun Club building will be delayed to allow for development of new designs for the project.

Whitinghad previously planned to renovate the building and lease it to another party to operate the restaurant.

Bids for the project were opened in October and came in at approximately $3.4 million. But shortly afterward, a powerful Halloween storm that damaged the newly renovated lakefront made the city reconsider plans for the restaurant.

Although the Gun Club was not damaged, enough of it was under water to raise concerns about possible flooding down the road.

Mayor Joe Stahura announced in November that raising the level of the old building would be too costly, which resulted in the city's decision to tear down the Gun Club and have an exact replica built in its place.

It was expected the restaurant would open at the end of 2015.

But now the project will be rebid and construction will likely not begin until summer, with an estimated completion date of spring 2016.

"The design is going to change so much that the bids will not be valid, anymore," Stahura said.

He said that while the plan is to keep some of the character of the old building and incorporate some of the stonework into the design, the new building will likely not be an exact replica of the old one, but, rather, a totally new design.

Stahura figures the extra cost to be incurred for the development of new designs will be offset by money that will be saved by not having to work within the footprint of the old building.

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Whiting lakefront restaurant work delayed