Now that Queso Blanco is gone, what business would be on your wish list to go into the old Picket's Cafeteria building? When considering this question, keep in mind that the building is not likely to be there in five years. When the state eventually widens Main Street (State Road 32), it's going to expand to the south and take out the building.
I've heard that Jan's Pizza has extended their dining room to the north into what was the back room area of Queso. When we first moved here in 1997, those two spaces were connected, so it seems to make sense to me that Jan has done that.
So, back to what I want to see on the corner. I'd love to see a microbrewery in downtown Westfield. Maybe one could start out in that space and then move when the road and intersection are expanded. Someone told me recently that Indiana is home to the most microbreweries in the country. I haven't confirmed that with any research, but it's interesting to note that we indeed have quite a few.
Downtown Westfield has zero night life, as far as I can tell. I imagine the folks that live there now probably like it that way. But when the Union Flats Apartments are built later this year, there will be a lot more people living in the downtown area that may want to spend some dollars nearby.
Another quality restaurant like Keltie's would be great. I think Keltie would agree that more good restaurants downtown add up to more business for her. If there are three or four restaurants of her caliber within walking distance of each other, customers are more likely to want to come back and try another one in the future. And then keep coming back. Think Broad Ripple.
Best wishes to whatever or whoever decides to move into that space. I hope it happens sooner rather than later. If you know anyone who has a business that could benefit from being on Westfield's main downtown corner, don't hesitate to play economic development professional and sing the praises of Westfield and the Grand Junction. Let's see if we can land a winner.
Don't forget to add a comment with your wish list!
4 comments:
The old Funderburgh/Picketts/Queso Blanco building is one of the older and larger buildings in Downtown Westfield. I wish we would try to find other solutions than just tear down the few historic structures we have. We'll end up like bland downtowns in other small suburbia towns. Especially with the great communication between the City/Mayor and INDOT, I am sure we could talk about preserving history.
Thanks, Michael. I'm sure INDOT would allow the building to be moved, as long as it's done within their timeframe. Of course, somebody's got to pay for it. They will expand 32 to the south precisely because of an historic building immediately north of Queso Blanco--the old bank building, as well as the Carnegie library a block to the west.
The building was Picketts when I moved to Westfield. What's the story behind Funderburgh?
According to the Brewer's Association, there were 1759 breweries in the United States in 2010. Of those, 1716 were craft breweries. They also have statistics for each state, and Indiana ranked 25th in the per capita brewery category with 35 total breweries. This list doesn't have a breakdown of breweries by type, but considering that California had 245 total breweries in the same time period, I doubt that we have more "microbreweries" than they do.
However, Vermont (ranked #1/capita) supports a brewery for every 29,797 people and we only support one for every 185,251 people. Hopefully this indicates that there is room for growth in this area.
Thanks for the good info, Sara.
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