Among Batavia's good news: Golden Corral to open
No longer will Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke have to endure ribbing about his annual proclamations that the Golden Corral restaurant will really open.
“Now this is the one I really couldn't wait today to show. This is a real deal,” he said Tuesday, flashing a slide of the vacant restaurant during his annual “state of the city” address to the Batavia Chamber of Commerce.
The restaurant, at Randall Road and Main Street, will open in January, according to franchisee Sam Gibson.
The news — and Gibson's attendance — drew a round of applause.
The restaurant building was completed more than one year ago, and the developer was supposed to turn it over to the Golden Corral national company. But the property was caught up in a foreclosure suit against the developer. That's been cleared up, according to Schielke.
Gibson, who lives in Plainfield, also operates a Golden Corral in Schererville, Ind.
Other good news, according to the mayor: Rubicon Technology is interested in expanding its Batavia plant, Aldi is building a refrigerated building at its United States headquarters on Kirk Road, a convenience store may move into the mostly-vacant strip mall at Wilson and Raddant Road, and tenants are moving in to the spiffed-up shopping center at Island Avenue and Houston Street.
“We even saw a warm body from Wal-Mart (at city hall),” about three weeks ago, Schielke said. The company is resuming plans to add 35,000 square feet of grocery space on to its store on Randall, he said, after the first of the year.Not all the news was rosy. Schielke also mentioned the closing, over the weekend, of Fox's on the River restaurant on North River Street, after almost two years, and Limestone Coffee and Tea, at River and Wilson streets. Batavia's oldest business, the Hubbard's Ethan Allen furniture store, is closing, as the owners are retiring. There is still no permanent tenant for the space Circuit City used to occupy in the shopping center at Fabyan Parkway and Randall Road.
#8220;I think this photo probably typifies what the world is all about, not only in Batavia but throughout the region#8221; and the nation Schielke said, showing the vacancy side-by-side with the Smashburger restaurant that opened in December.