The owner of a well-known Janesville restaurant is preparing to open a new restaurant at a new location. Kyle Geissler reports.
The Time Out Pub & Eatery, a new restaurant owned by Brian Cherry, will open sometime before Christmas in the ground floor of the Helgesen Building, 101 E. Milwaukee St., Janesville. Cherry formerly owned Cherry’s Steak and Prime on North Franklin Street in Janesville, which is now Steve and Holly’s.
JANESVILLE — A new restaurant owned by a familiar face is expected to boost the revitalization of downtown Janesville.
Brian Cherry plans to open Time Out Pub & Eatery before Christmas on the ground floor of the Helgesen Building at Main and Milwaukee streets.
Cherry owned and operated Cherry's Steak and Prime on North Franklin Street starting in 1995, although he'd worked at the restaurant since 1983 when it was called The Lounge. Cherry's parents, Don and Ruth, bought it in 1984 and sold it to their son in 1995.
In early August, the Cherrys sold the building on North Franklin Street to Steve and Holly Milz, who reopened it as Steve & Holly's.
Ever since, Brian Cherry has been working at Gray's Tied House in Verona and looking for a new spot for his Janesville restaurant.
Cherry hooked up with Eric Schwartz, president of Middleton-based Sara Investment Real Estate, which earlier this year bought the Helgesen Building, a five-story, 52,000-square-foot office building at 101 E. Milwaukee St.
Cherry is leasing about 3,100 square feet that at one time housed Mutual Savings Bank. The restaurant and bar will seat about 100, twice as many as Cherry could accommodate on Franklin Street.
Time Out will serve lunch and dinner from a menu that won't include anything more expensive than $12.95, he said.
"It will be a lot of the same type of food as we had at Cherry's, but a little more casual," he said. "It will be like some of the pubs and eateries you see on corners in Milwaukee and Chicago. Lots of glass so people can see what's going on outside. It's a busy intersection."
Cherry said he hopes to draw solid lunch crowds. He'll feature homemade pizzas that he learned to make while working in Verona, plus a variety of sandwiches, wraps, steaks and shrimp.
Eight to 10 LCD TVs will carry sporting events. Dining will be available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the bar will be open later.
"But there won't be a pool table or any dart boards," he said.
Earlier this week, Sara Investment started to renovate the building, which includes work for the restaurant and remodeling of lobbies, elevators, bathrooms; new windows, and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
Sara is leasing other spaces in the building.
Schwartz has said the renovated Helgesen Building will help downtown revitalization efforts. A key component of his project, he said, is the city's commitment to build a new parking ramp at Parker Drive and Wall Street. A significant portion of the parking stalls in the three- to four-deck ramp would be designated for Helgesen Building tenants, with the rest for public parking.
"Without the parking ramp, that building would stay like it is forever," Schwartz said in after buying the building.
Earlier this summer, Schwartz said he was negotiating with a major tenant for the building. Those negotiations continue, he said.
Gale Price, manager of Janesville's Building and Development Services, said the new restaurant is good news for the downtown in general and the Helgesen Building in particular.
"We're looking forward to it, and it should work out well with the office building," Price said.