McComb in revitalizing mode

McCOMB — The village of McComb is hoping to obtain a $250,000 state grant to improve three buildings and revive downtown. "We are trying hard," said Mayor Cathy Schroll. "Hopefully we can start to revitalize our downtown and make it look like what we want it to look like." One addition everyone is rooting for: a new restaurant, to draw traffic downtown like the former Tony's Restaurant did before leaving for Findlay 20 years ago. Jon Hart is fixing up 129 E. Main St. to open a restaurant in perhaps several months, and apartments upstairs. "I hope he (Hart) succeeds because when Tony's Restaurant was in town here, it was great for business," said Jerry Siferd, owner of Siferd's Country Carpets, 120 W. Main St. The village has already done some preliminary work toward filing the formal grant application this fall. McComb could have an answer to its grant request from the state by year-end. McComb may even be able to obtain grants in subsequent years for more improvements, the mayor said. The $250,000 it is seeking this year would fund improvements at three downtown buildings: • Siferd's Country Carpets would get a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system along with improvements to the facade, said Lauren Falcone, department manager for Poggemeyer Design Group, which is working with McComb on the grant application. The building at 120 W. Main St. was built in 1900, according to property records. • 151 E. Main St. would receive brick repair and replacement and repainting, Falcone said. It was built in 1900, according to property records. The building is owned by Sharon Bundy-Pethe, who has had some businesses at the site over the years. Bundy-Pethe sponsors a $500 shopping spree each year for a McComb High School girl who plays sports. The award is named after her son, "Coach Shane" — Shane Bundy — a former McComb girls softball coach who died in 2010. Bundy-Pethe sells her homemade jams and other items for various causes in McComb. • Hart's property, at 129 E. Main St., would get a new roof and facade improvements as well as repair or replacement of windows, Falcone said. Hart and his wife, Sara, have already invested $50,000 of their own money in upstairs renovations for four apartments. He figures he will spend an additional $30,000 before he is done. And that does not include improvements to heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and electric equipment, he said. With the national economy apparently descending into a slump, Hart wants to avoid incurring debt to open his restaurant. So he is doing all of his upgrades to the building, constructed in 1893, with cash as he can afford them, he said. McComb and area residents can look forward to his restaurant, Brisket Brothers Bar and Grill, opening in perhaps six or seven months, Hart said. It will serve brisket, ribs, pulled pork, hamburgers and hot dogs. The building initially was known as the McComb Opera House. By the 1930s, with the arrival of motion pictures, the opera house lost its viability, Hart said. The space upstairs then was used as storage for a furniture store. Beginning in the late 1940s, the upstairs space was used for apartments. The ground level of the building was occupied by grocers, meat markets and taverns until about 10 years ago when it became vacant. That's about to change. "We're in revitalization mode now," Hart said.