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Downtown mainstay Cherry's looks for new location

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

The popular Cherry's restaurant in downtown Janesville is closing only to reopen later in a new location. The current site has been sold and will reopen as another restaurant soon.

JANESVILLE — In his 31-year culinary career, Brian Cherry has handled his share of short orders.

But none will be as large as the one he'll face after Saturday night, when he turns off the grills for good at Cherry's Steak and Prime in downtown Janesville.

Cherry has sold the restaurant at 13 N. Franklin St. to Steve and Holly Milz, who plan to reopen it Tuesday as Steve & Holly's.

Cherry plans to open a new restaurant, hopefully by the holidays.

But its location is up in the air.

Cherry signed up early with the Hendricks Development Group, which plans to redevelop the former Connor's Supply building near Janesville's Five Points into a retail complex anchored by a grocery store.

That project has been delayed, and with the sale of Cherry's, Brian Cherry needs to find a new location soon.

He's intent on working with HDG and earlier this week looked at another of the developer's properties: the former Schuler's furniture store on North Main Street.

"I actually prefer that site," Cherry said. "The turnaround time would be much shorter; it's got riverfront access that would be unique for a Janesville restaurant, and it has plenty of parking."

Mark Membrino of HDG said he hopes to continue working with Cherry to find a new site.

"He wants to work with us, and we want to work with him, but he can't wait any longer, and that's the problem," Membrino said. "So we might have to cut the cord on the Five Points project."

Membrino said he's crunching the numbers to see if the former Schuler's building will work for Cherry's new restaurant, which would offer bar and table service for 110 people—twice that of the current restaurant on North Franklin.

Although he knows he's going, Cherry doesn't know where.

"I know that on Saturday night there will be a lot of happiness, but there will also be some sadness," he said.

Cherry's parents, Don and Ruth, bought the restaurant in 1984 from Ed and Marion Wellnitz. At the time, it was called The Lounge and was primarily a bar.

After cooking at Marc's Big Boy, Perkins and Harpo's North, Brian Cherry went to work at The Lounge in 1983 when the Wellnitzes started serving food.

"Brian wanted to get into the business, and we bought it with the idea that it would end up as it is today," Don Cherry said. Brian bought the restaurant from his parents in 1995, although his parents continued to own the building.

Brian Cherry describes the new restaurant—wherever it is and whatever it's called—as an upscale sports bar, with plenty of TVs and a menu that still will feature steaks and shrimp.

"It won't be the same, because if it was the same I wouldn't be moving," he said. "I want to be able to accommodate larger groups more comfortably."

The Cherrys are looking forward to the opening of the new restaurant, but they'll miss the old one, too.

"We've made a lot of good friends here," Ruth said.

"They've become personal friends," Don added. "And they still will be. It's just that they'll have to wait a few months to see us at the new restaurant."

In the meantime, Holly Milz said she and her husband plan to keep the restaurant on Franklin much as it's always been.

"We know that everybody speaks very highly of Cherry's, and we hope to build on that," she said.

RETAIL CENTER PROJECT STALLED

The developer of a neighborhood retail center planned for the Five Points area of downtown Janesville admits the project is moving slower than expected.

"But we're going to tear it down very soon, I can guarantee that much," said Mark Membrino of the Hendricks Development Group.

HDG in 2005 bought the former Connor's Supply building at 216 Center Ave. and announced plans for the development, which would be anchored by a grocery store that would serve the demographics of the neighborhood.

Connors moved its operation into the former Ott Schweitzer Distributing building at 607 S. Arch St.

The city and the developer negotiated a TIF agreement for the project, the centerpiece of which is a 15,000-square-foot grocery store.

Negotiations with the grocer have dragged, Membrino said, and the project also was slowed when construction workers uncovered and removed more asbestos than originally thought.

In addition to the grocery store, the project also is expected to include several other suites for office or retail lease.