A trio of vacant buildings are in various stages of redevelopment at a key Greenwood intersection.
Three prominent properties in a prime area for development on the eastern gateway into the city are currently vacant: the Jonathan Byrd’s building, the former Bob Evans restaurant and the Shell gas station. They are located at the Main Street exit of Interstate 65 and near Sheek Road.
By the end of the year, the Jonathan Byrd’s and Bob Evans properties will have new tenants and the Shell gas station is expanding with a larger convenience store and more gasoline pumps.
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said he is excited to see the investment in those three properties, which will create a better atmosphere for the gateway into Greenwood from the interstate.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryA coffee roasting com- pany which will also run a self-described coffee crafthouse where they will sell their brews is moving into the former Jonathon Byrd’s property. Another tenant will be running the banquet portion of the iconic building.
Development on Main Street near I-65 has been a priority for Greenwood officials.
The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission has approved several incentives for projects east of I-65 such as the Dragon Rock Distillery and retail development at the Graham Road intersection, after making improvements including a stop light and an extra turn lane to that intersection.
The redevelopment commission is also asking for permission to spend up to $3 million on infrastructure improvements to properties east of I-65.
After three decades of serving home-cooked food, hosting banquets and catering, Jonathan Byrd’s shut down its cafeteria on Sheek Road off of Main Street about a year ago. The banquet facility closed at the end of 2016.
The property was sold to local real estate developer Randy Faulkner, who found the two tenants who will be moving into the building later this year.
“Our line of business is to re-purpose and re-establish buildings, and make them beneficial to the city and the neighbors, something we’ve done with multiple buildings in Greenwood,” Faulkner said.
One of those buildings was the former Greenwood City Hall, which Faulkner’s real-estate agency purchased and has been renovating.
The same company bought and rehabbed the former Polk Canning Co. building at Polk and Main Streets, which has been home to Cornerstone Autism Center since 2010.
The first tenant moving into the former Jonathan Byrd’s property, Brickhouse Coffee, is a coffee roasting business currently based out of Fortville and managed by former Greenwood resident Jared Stayton. The business will be located on the east end of the building, where the express to-go Jonathon Byrd’s restaurant was.
The company, which Stayton runs with his wife and two daughters, sells roasted coffee and provides catering services.
Their coffee is also used for a cold brew sold by SureShot Coffee at Kroger stores in Franklin and Fishers. By moving into this new location, which is about five times larger than their space in Fortville, Stayton hopes to grow his business.
Moving to this location also gives Stayton the opportunity to start retail sales as well, with a coffee crafthouse expected to open in the summer or early fall.
Stayton described moving into the Jonathan Byrd’s property as an excellent opportunity.
“It is a community icon, a name known around Indy,” he said. “The style is old school, and we consider ourselves old school roasters.”
Next door to the east, a Bob Evans restaurant, with its windows boarded up, has been vacant for nearly a year. The restaurant closed in April 2016, one of 21 the restaurant chain shuttered that month. The building was sold to Union Savings Bank for $900,000 in August, according to county records.
Messages left for Union Savings Bank representatives weren’t returned, but both Myers and Faulkner said the bank intends to open a branch at that location.
The Shell gas station has been closed since last year, as it prepares for an expansion, according to Greenwood Planning Director Bill Peeples.
Shell owns a vacant, 0.7-acre property to its west, which it is going to rehabilitate and expand into, Myers said.
“The Shell station is remodeling to make it more nicer looking, more pleasant. They worked well with the city,” he said.
The construction permit is expected to be issued this month, and work will likely take about six months, Peeples said.
The gas station is expanding from eight pumps to 12, with plans for a 5,000 square foot convenience store, which is about double the size of the current one, he said.
