JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — A new development is coming to downtown Jeffersonville yet again. A proposed entertainment venue will sit behind the Parlour Restaurant near the corner of Pearl and West Chestnut.
"Most of everything that's happened downtown has been a good thing, we'd just love to know ahead of time what's going on to see drawings,” owner of Café 223, Carol Stenbro said. “It’d be nice if somebody from the city could come to our neighborhood meetings.”
The project is in the planning stages, so details are still developing. The developer will turn two historic homes into a multi-use night spot, and it will include a restaurant.
“I'm always excited to see a new business open, but I'm not excited about seeing parking go away,” owner of Pearl Street Treats, Lynn Rhodea said.
As a part of the plan, the developer is purchasing a parking lot, and some nearby business owners are feeling uneasy about it.
“Our employees park [in that lot] and Parlour's employees park there, so closing off that parking lot is cutting down a lot of the parking spaces that we have in downtown Jeffersonville," general manager of Pearl Street Treats, Josh Mcleod said. "Most of the street spaces are resident parking only."
Downtown Jeffersonville has developed into a pedestrian-friendly area.
"That's what you do in those areas -- you get out of your cars and you walk a bit or you get on a bike,” Rita Fleming said, who sold one of the historic homes to the developer for the project. “You can bring your own bike or you can rent one of the bikes that we have in downtown Jeffersonville.”
The businesses owners said it is a different story when the seasons change.
“When the weather turns cold or rainy and not so nice to be out in, it becomes a problem because people then would want to drive,” Stenbro said.
For now, it is just a wait and see.
“We definitely want to hear more about the entertainment venue, but I am always excited about new ventures in downtown Jeffersonville,” Rhodea said. “We have such a special place here.”
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