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In the village and the living is easy
Teri Hudson, owner of Easy’s in the Village, told me that the restaurant will begin demolition of the adjacent old Village Station today to make room for its addition.
Hudson purchased the land months back in hopes of building a beer garden on the property that will likely triple the space her bar and restaurant currently offers.
The design has shifted some since she and I first talked about it in February. She now wants it to have a permanent roof with opening side walls. With this design, the addition could be open year round and likely still allow customers to smoke under Ohio’s smoking ban because of the open walls.
She originally hoped to be opening right about now, but permits take time. Still, Hudson expressed gratitude to Hamilton’s planning department. There were environmental concerns at first because the building was an old gas station. Though, it has since been determined that gas tanks on the property were removed years ago.
Demolition is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today. Hudson hopes to have the permit to lay the foundation for the addition by next week.
The first story I wrote about Easy’s plans:
Bar wants to expand outside with beer garden
By Joshua Rinaldi
HAMILTON — It may not be historic, but it would still be German.
Teri and Gary Hudson, owners of Easy’s in the Village on Third Street, have proposed knocking down the old Village Station in an adjacent property and turning the space into a beer garden for their restaurant.
“What is better than an outdoor German beer garden in the German Village?” she asked.
Hudson does not yet own the property but has a contract to buy it pending approval from all necessary departments.
Hamilton’s German Village is part of the National Registry of Historic places, said Craig Wilks, president of the German Village Association. The old village station itself is not specifically part of the registry, though, as some buildings in the district are, he said.
Wilks said there were mixed emotions in the village about the proposal to tear down the old Village Station, but said the association did vote to approve the Hudsons’ request.
“We’re sorry to see an old building go, but there hasn’t seemed to be a reuse of the building,” he said.
The project has also been approved by the city’s historic design review board and is now in the planning process.
As an old gas station there are environmental concerns that there may be an old gas tank buried on the property, which would require clean-up.
Hudson said the beer garden would effectively double the space in her restaurant bar and would be done “very, very classy” and contain a full wet bar. It would also provide a respite for smokers who wouldn’t be bound by the smoking ban outside.
Hudson hopes to have the beer garden open by June.
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