Waynesburg hears proposals for building
WAYNESBURG – The building at the former Midtown Auto lot has been vacant for many years but Monday, not one, but two local businessmen approached Waynesburg Borough Council to propose separate plans for it.
Joey Zhu of New Lam’s Garden told council he would like to obtain the building as part of a plan to expand his restaurant, which is on an adjacent property on Washington Street.
Les Bedilion of Waynesburg also said he is interested in the building and would like to lease part of it for a Dairy Delite- type restaurant.
Council has discussed the building on numerous occasions in the past and has gone back and forth between renovating it and demolishing it. But, no one else in recent years has expressed interest in the property.
Zhu told council he is purchasing the building in which his restaurant is housed and the adjoining empty lot and plans to build an addition that would include bathrooms and a handicap-accessible ramp for the restaurant.
He said he hopes to purchase or lease the land on which the Midtown Auto Lot building sits. He would then tear down the Midtown Auto Lot building and use that space for parking as well as for an area where trucks can make deliveries.
Assistant borough manager Bryan Cumberledge, who earlier discussed the matter with Zhu, said the plan would not require the borough to reduce the number of parking spaces the borough now leases in the lot.
Council agreed to have borough administrators discuss the matter further with Zhu and obtain more information on the plan.
Bedilion said he would like to lease part of the building for a restaurant. He agreed to pay for improvements to the building, which he estimated from $30,000 to $35,000, in return for a reduction on the lease.
“I’m just trying to bring some business back to the borough,” he said. “We need places to eat in the borough.”
Bedilion said he only wanted to initally use about one-third of the building for the restaurant, though later he might expand and use the entire building. He also said he counted on most of the business relying on walk-in traffic, which would not require further parking.
Bedilion told council he, too, would like to sit down with the borough and discuss the matter further.
Prior to the council meeting, a public hearing was held on the borough’s 2015 Community Development Block Grant.
Crystal Simmons, the county’s CDBG grant coordinator, explained the application process and how the borough entitlement grant of about $80,000 can be used.
Council has discussed using the money to help cover the costs of improvements to the borough’s sewage treatment system, which are required by the state Department of Environmental Protection.