McComb downtown upgrade set

McCOMB — Three buildings in McComb will be improved with a $250,000 grant in the coming months in hopes of reviving the village's downtown. "We do have great hopes," Mayor Cathy Schroll said. "We've started out with a small amount of businesses, there will be three of them that currently will receive improvements to their buildings." Work on the downtown buildings funded by the grant could start in November and be completed in spring 2024. The long-term plan is to seek more grants and investments for downtown McComb, she said. One addition everyone is rooting for: a new restaurant, to draw traffic downtown like the former Tony's Restaurant did before leaving for Findlay after 2000. Jon Hart is fixing up 129 E. Main St. to someday open a restaurant. Grant funds will pay to replace the building's roof and eight storefront windows. Already Hart has renovated four apartments upstairs and rented them out. He is working with contractors and engineers on his restaurant plans. Brisket Brothers Bar and Grill will serve brisket, ribs, pulled pork, hamburgers and hot dogs. The restaurant opening date is uncertain. "I don't have any time frame in any way, shape or form," he said. Further up Main Street, Siferd's Country Carpet, 120 W. Main St., will get improvements to the front and west facades and the entrance. The building was constructed in 1900, according to property records. "The building will be nicer. It will be good for McComb, to beautify it," Jerry Siferd said. "I could see it helping the business." He sells carpet, hardwood floor, vinyl, laminate and other floor coverings. Siferd has been in business over 20 years. Another downtown building, this one at 151 E. Main St., will get brick, cornice and sandstone repairs, and some repainting. The building is owned by Sharon Bundy-Pethe, who has had some businesses at the site over the years. Bundy-Pethe sponsors a 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. The building Hart is renovating for a restaurant has a storied history. Built in 1893, it 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 11 years ago when it became vacant.