The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New life coming to 822 Broadway
New life is coming to 822 Broadway.
Plans are on the drawing board to add a restaurant and music venue to the building.
In the summer, area real estate agent Andrea Neal purchased the building.
And in November, Neal transferred it to N and H LLC, a company with Neal and her husband, Jeff Neal.
On Dec. 17, the Neals attended the meeting of the Lorain City School board with attorney Henry Patterson of Lorain.
The school board approved a 10-year, 100 percent tax abatement for improvements at the building.
Patterson explained details about what’s in store.
The school board also published its notice from the city of Lorain that said City Council will consider the tax deal Feb. 4, 2019.
The Neals will invest $200,000 with a plan to complete renovations by the end of May.
With construction and future jobs, the project could create temporary and permanent payroll totaling $350,000, according to plans.
“I’m glad there will be a nice restaurant in downtown Lorain,” said Lorain school board member Bill Sturgill.
The renovations
After the school board meeting, Jeff Neal added details about the coming renovations.
“It’s no secret what we’re doing,” Jeff Neal said. “It’s going to be a higher end restaurant on the lower level.”
Plans for the second floor are in the works.
The third floor, with windows offering panoramic views of downtown Lorain, will become a music venue.
The first level, with 3,000 square feet of space, has been cleared down to the original brick of the structure, Jeff Neal said.
“When you open up these old buildings, it’s just, when you see the beauty of how they built them, it’s just amazing,” he said.
The building has a chimney issue, but otherwise, two engineers have inspected it and the building is structurally sound, Jeff Neal said.
It has a building footprint similar to that of The Feve, a popular eatery in Oberlin, he said.
There will be some rearranging on the first floor to move the kitchen to the back of the building, Jeff Neal said.
The building has a mix of old and new.
A fire suppression hood is installed on the first floor and it still works, along with most of the needed gas lines and a bar that was removed temporarily for the renovation.
The building was built with an elevator shaft that remains, but that has been sealed with a floor at the second level.
There are antique parts of the motor that ran the elevator.
The second and third floors each have about 2,400 square feet of space.
The floors have some of the original woodwork, including pocket doors to divide the second floor.
And the upper floor will be separated to divide the building into different spaces.
Historic building
On the outside of the building, a marker stone at the top reads A. Helfrich with the year 1906, which indicates the structure remained standing despite the Great Tornado of 1924.
For years, it served as the Helfrich furniture and undertaking business.
The Neals have found at least one historic Lorain Daily News article and photo of the building.
The tree out front likely will be removed as part of the city’s Broadway Streetscape plan that will be built out in 2019.
Along with that project, Jeff Neal predicted observers will see more changes coming to the buildings in downtown Lorain next year.
“Lorain should be happy with what’s going on with Broadway,” he said. “There’s so much going on.”
The construction will take some coordination to ensure patrons can get to the renovated spaces, to the Palace Theater and Rockin’ on the River next summer, said Jeff Neal, who previously served as the board president for the Lorain Palace Theater.
“Since I’ve been down at the Palace, I love downtown, I have a blast down there,” he said. “If I could have bought one with an apartment upstairs, I would.”