City Lounge raises its glass to beer garden
Project to move forward without CDA assistance
City Lounge patrons will be able to sip their drinks in the open air this summer, despite the Community Development Authority's rejection of an $18,000 façade grant request.
Business owner Joseph Halser IV intends to build his $36,000 beer garden - featuring an open-air gazebo for patrons, "old-fashioned" light fixtures and lush landscaping - anyway. The smoke-free tavern is at 3455 E. Layton Ave.
The Plan Commission and Design Review Board unanimously approved the plans April 14.
Façade grants are available for landscaping, but the CDA's program is intended to revitalize dilapidated buildings, CDA Chairwoman Sara Eberhardy said, adding that the exterior of City Lounge "looks fantastic" and CDA members did not believe the project warranted grant funding.
Halser hopes the beer garden will be open to customers by the end of June.
He also has plans to raze two crumbling buildings adjacent to City Lounge on the other side of the planned beer garden. That should be completed in about three weeks.
Chantel Balzell can be reached at (262) 446-6602.
We encourage your comments but will strive to remove discussion that contains personal attacks, racial slurs, profanity or other inappropriate material as outlined in our guidelines. We post-moderate comments on most content, but may choose to pre-moderate some comments so please be patient if you don't see yours appear right way. We also ask for your help by reporting comments you think are inappropriate.
Please login or register to post a comment.