Main St. building to be demolished
Commercial, residential uses planned for new structure at 160 N. Main St.
SOUDERTON » With the Northbound restaurant slated to open soon in the former Souderton train station and North End Market planned for next year on Main Street, Giuseppe “Joe” Chiaro jokes that the name of his planned new building will go in a different direction.
“Mine’s gonna be Westside,” he said.
While that won’t actually be the name, there will be a new building at 160 N. Main St. after the current one is demolished, he said.
Chiaro and his father, Gaetano “Guy” Chiaro, owners of Caruso Brick Oven Trattoria on Main Street, which they opened 15 years ago, also own other buildings in town, including the one at 160 N. Main St.
The initial plan was to renovate that building, which is about 100 years old, but an inspection found there was too much termite damage, he said.
Plans for the new building are currently in the works, he said.
“We want to build something
that of course is going to fit the town,” Chiaro said.
“We are definitely looking for two to three commercial spaces,” he said, “and some apartments on the top.”
Those will probably be studio apartments, he said.
The Chiaros also own the neighboring 162 N. Main St. building where Modern Male barbershop is located and plan to put in a small European-style interior alleyway connecting the two buildings, he said.
There are parking spaces for customers of the businesses both in the parking lot beside 160 N. Main St., which is also part of the property, and on the street, he said. In addition, the Borough of Souderton owns land behind the parking lot that could be turned into additional parking area, he said.
Michael DiCicco is the architect for the project and Richard Baker the builder, Chiaro said.
Mom and pop stores, specialty stores or food stores are some of the possibilities for the redone building, he said.
“We hope to give some life to the sidewalks down there because it’s dark at night,” Chiaro said.
Along with Northbound and North End Market, there are plans to reopen the Broad Theater next year.
It’s all part of a resurgence in Souderton, Chiaro said.
“Me and my father, we’re glad to be in town,” he said. “We waited 15 years, but it looks like it’s happening now.”
Mike Hart will be doing the building demolition, Chiaro said.
As of late July, there was no date set for the demolition because the utility companies had not yet disconnected the gas and electricity, he said.