On Center
by BRENDA STEWART
Well, there’s been some moving and shaking on our end of the block lately. At Front and Center, it looks like they are patching the metal roof of the toxic eyesore on the corner but I haven’t heard of any plans since the city stopped a couple of guys pulling asbestos-ladened insulation from the building and loading it onto an open-air flat-bed truck a while back. From the coming-on-a-decade-long neglect and vacancy of her buildings, the non-local owner acts as if she’s stuck with property in a dying town. From the price tag she’s hung on it, though, she obviously feels that she’s sitting on some pretty valuable real estate. So, here’s to hoping that she’ll either put a reasonable price on it, level it and put us out of its misery, or renovate it into something worthy of our cool downtown, instead of acting like nobody sees it just because she doesn’t have to drive by it every day.
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On to some good news: Next door, the Center Street Salon and Spa is set to open on Thursday. Owner Courtney Campbell said that they have renovated the space formerly used by Synergy Salon and look forward to joining Hair Topic, Center Street’s grande dame of salons a couple of blocks west, in offering a multitude of health and beauty services to the community.
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Grabbed a burger at Hitter’s last week and the guys in there said to let you all know that they are going to be open for lunch six days a week now. It’s been hit or miss the past couple of months but they are confident that they will be able to get a consistent lunch schedule going, so, head downtown if you want one of the best cheeseburgers and fries in town (on the planet, as far as I’m concerned).
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Speaking of having lunch downtown, I was taken to task last week for not including Shipley’s when I invited folks to have lunch at our local downtown eateries. I’ve been accused of a lot of things but being advised that I have an obvious personal bias against a donut shop is a new one (for the record, it wasn’t Shipley’s that lodged the bias claim). So, if you’ve got the hankering for some kolaches or donuts and pastries or a cup of coffee any time between say, dawn and 2 p.m., head on down to Shipley’s Donuts. Now I can sleep at night.
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The Friends of the Kyle Library wanted me to let you know that even though the June 30 deadline for having your inscribed pavers in place in time for the new library’s opening festivities has passed, there are still plenty of pavers to purchase for this worthy cause. Future pavers will be placed in the courtyard as they are completed. Contact the Kyle Library 268-7411 or www.kylelibrary.com and they will be able to answer any questions you have.
