The square takes shape

It's been a bookstore, a radio shop, a bank - even a tire business. Soon, the more than 150-year-old building on the southwest edge of Huntsville's courthouse square could offer the ambiance of a European sidewalk cafe.

The project unveiled Wednesday by local businessman Jeff Sikes is the latest in a series of plans to make downtown Huntsville into a cool place to hang out.

Sikes' plans call for a major makeover of the former Rocket City Credit Union building on the corner of Madison Street and South Side Square. He is developing loft apartments on the upper floor and transforming the ground floor into space for a deli restaurant/martini bar complete with outdoor tables.

"I'm very excited about this project. I think it's a great addition to the square," Sikes said Wednesday. Joining him at the building for a news conference were Mayor Loretta Spencer, City Councilman Bill Kling, several city department heads and project officials.

Spencer said the city has tried to foster downtown growth by easing building code requirements on older buildings, tweaking ordinances to allow outdoor tables, running weekend trolleys to downtown venues and granting easements that - in Sikes' case - will allow balconies in his loft apartments.

Sikes said he's talking with potential proprietors and hopes to stage an official opening in October. He envisions a place that will sell bagels, muffins and specialty coffees in the morning; provide soups, sandwiches and gourmet salads at lunch; and become a martini/wine bar by night with light live music.

The building will feature walls that can be rolled back to allow the music to flow to the outdoor tables. Sikes said a full-scale restaurant could be part of the mix if a kitchen can be incorporated in the design.

"I'm interviewing several prospects. We need to get further along than just a drawing," he said.

Sikes, who owns the local Mazda dealership and the Sikes Holdings investment management firm, bought the historic building about six years ago with a vision of renovating it into loft apartments and a cafe/bar with sidewalk tables.

His appetite for such a venue was whetted by dining experiences abroad. "I've spent a lot of time in Europe over the past couple of years, everywhere from Hungary to Italy to France to Copenhagen. I can't say there was any one place that inspired me, but what did seem common was there was sidewalk dining everywhere. I enjoyed it so much over there I thought I'd like to see the same thing here."

Sikes said he was reluctant at first to pour money into the project.

"I wasn't real comfortable because I wasn't sure what the city's commitment (to downtown) was," he said.

That changed with interest the city showed in landing other downtown projects such as the new Embassy Suites convention hotel, the Big Spring Summit office tower and condos, the Thrasher Memorial fountain and Bicentennial Park.

Spencer said Sikes' project comes as city and business leaders are trying to lure young professionals to Huntsville to fill high-tech jobs. The city must compete with other areas that offer cool places to live and hang out after work.

The mayor said the city is about to add lighting, refurbish sidewalks and add more benches and decorative trash receptacles to make downtown more inviting.

"We hope to have it all in by December," she said.

Sikes' building, which dates to the 1850s, has a jack-of-all-trades history. His earliest photo of the building shows it as a bookstore. It's been a radio and appliance store, a B.F. Goodrich tire store and a First Federal bank before becoming a credit union office.

The interior still houses a vault, which will become the ladies' room, he said. The upper floor will have two-bedroom and a single-bedroom loft apartments, each with such features as granite countertops, hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, Viking appliances and balconies.

Sikes isn't the only one retrofitting an old building downtown into a cafe or bar. Workers on the north side of Courthouse Square are putting the finishing touches on the House of Brews Cafe/Pub, a smoke-free establishment that should open this summer. House of Brews follows the recent opening of the Kenny Mangos Coffee Shop Gallery and the makeover of the Wild Rose Cafe next door. The Jazz Factory is a couple of doors down.

Other restaurants on the south side of the square include Papou's Greek Restaurant and Judge Prater's Le Bistro Du Soleil. Nearby nightspots include Humphrey's Bar and Grill, Sammy T's and the Kaffeeklatsch.