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The Springfield News-Sun digs into stories about important business developments, including recent coverage of efforts to add housing in downtown Springfield and the auction of the Upper Valley Mall.
By the numbers
$400,000: Cost to renovate the Arby’s on East Main Street
20,000: Average number of cars that travel East Main Street per day
2010: Year the city of Springfield, Clark County, and Springfield and Harmony Twps. created a plan for the Eastern Edge Corridor to improve the area
The Great Recession slowed improvements on East Main Street — one of the major gateways into Springfield — but there has been some signs of re-investment in recent years.
Arby’s, for example, recently spent about $400,000 to renovate its restaurant. But some stores, including Long John Silver’s/A&W, have closed.
The city of Springfield, along with the county and Harmony and Springfield Twps., adopted an Eastern Edge Corridor plan around 2010 to require new businesses to meet design standards from Spring Street to Harmony Twp., and improve the look of the corridor.
“We continue to strive to improve what is one of a couple major commercial corridors in our community,” Deputy City Manager Bryan Heck said.
An average of 20,000 cars travel East Main Street per day.
There’s room for more business growth, said Bruce Wagle, president of the Roseland Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood along East Main Street includes about 74 homes.
“We’ve had some closings, but most of it is pretty positive,” he said.
At Arby’s, 2620 E. Main St., the business recently finished a roughly $400,000 renovation as part of a complete remodel, said Rebecca Cunningham, manager at the fast food location.
The store has close to 30 employees, she said, and re-opened in mid-November after being closed for a week during construction. The remodel was needed in part to meet corporate guidelines, and locations on Leffel Lane and Bechtle Avenue are also slated for improvements, she said.
The remodel included an overhaul of both the interior and exterior, as well as new furnishings, kitchen equipment and other equipment for the staff.
“We have a lot of regulars so everyone is real excited,” Cunningham said of the project.
In recent years, Tim Horton’s has also built a location at 2000 E. Main St. A Valero gas station renovated its location at 2118 E. Main St., and a new gateway sign was added at the entrance to the city. Property owners on the East Main Street corridor also recently fixed their sidewalks, curbs and gutters along the corridor, Heck said.
“That helps as East Main Street remains one of the more active in terms of not only vehicular but also pedestrian traffic,” Heck said. “It’s important obviously to provide proper and safe sidewalks to traverse the corridor.”
The area has had some setbacks as well. Earlier this year, the Pizza Hut restaurant at 2501 E. Main St. changed its business model, closing its sit-down restaurant and opening in a smaller space that only offers carry-out and delivery service. The new store opened at 1718 E. Main St. next door to Title Max and Loans on the corner of East Main and Howard streets.
Company officials didn’t return calls seeking comment, but have previously said the decision was the result of an evaluation that looked at the purchasing trends of the community. The restaurant’s two other stores in Springfield, at 2955 Derr Road and 1930 N. Bechtle Ave., retained their normal business model.
The Long John Silvers and A&W restaurant at 1929 E. Main St. recently closed. Officials from that company also couldn’t be reached for comment.
The corridor still has some challenges, Wagle said, including making businesses more aware of the area. The tendency now is for businesses to look first to Bechtle Avenue.
“The East Main corridor and this end of down is beginning to see a little revitalization,” Wagle said. “There is some traffic out this way and some reason to come this way.”
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