Politics & Government
Tosa's Second Alterra Café to Take Root By Spring
Demolition at 68th and Wells to begin by close of summer, a little later than coffee roaster had hoped.
If you're thinking Alterra Café at North 68th and West Wells streets, think spring.
Alterra Coffee Roasters expects to begin demolition of the long-vacant former medical clinic building at 6745 W. Wells St. in about five weeks, with the café to open in April or May 2013, according to Alterra co-owner Lincoln Fowler.
Alterra purchased the 0.34-acre lot for $375,000 this year, the same price paid in 2003 by former owner William Ibach. Ibach bought the property with hopes to transform the corner lot into a mix-used commercial and residential development.
That plan met with strenuous opposition from neighbors of the Hyde Park business district and, in turn, failed to win city support. A second plan, for a $2.5 million townhouse condominium project, gained city approval in 2010 but never took off in the wake of recession.
The Alterra Café project , a week after Alterra won a $99,000 grant from the city through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Fowler said the CDBG funding would be used to defray the purchase cost of the property.
At the time the city approved the project, Alterra's representatives said they thought it possible demolition and construction could begin in spring with the cafe open by this fall, but that was only a preliminary timeline.
Fowler declined to cite a project cost for the café, saying, "We'd prefer to focus on other elements... how it engages with the neighborhood, the jobs, redevelopment of the parcel after it being derelict for so long."
Alterra plans to demolish the 4,600-square-foot medical clinical building and , at 3,600 square feet. Alterra expects the café to create 15 full-time-equivalent jobs.
The café's indoor seating capacity will be near 70, with seasonal outdoor courtyard seating for up to 35. The indoor seating area includes an indoor/outdoor area with a fireplace and a large glass panels that can fully open in good weather months to create sheltered, open-air seating.
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Alterra already has , in the Locker's Square development at West North Avenue and Swan Boulevard.
