NORTH LIMA Idle Hour to be razed

Landowners have no immediate plans to build on the site.
NORTH LIMA -- A spokesman for the investment group that owns the old Idle Hour Restaurant property on South Avenue said the building will be razed, probably by mid-August.
Jack Tamarkin, managing partner of the Girard-based owner Executive Real Estate Co., said the Beaver Township restaurant closed earlier this week and the equipment and furnishings were sold at auction Thursday.
The business was owned by Pete and Shirley Wellman, who had a month-to-month lease with the landowners.
Tamarkin said Mahoning County recently installed a new sanitary sewer line in the area and had required that the restaurant tie into the line by next week.
He said that cost, estimated at more than $7,000, combined with the cost for needed building renovations, made it economically unfeasible for the restaurant to remain open.
Mutual decision
The decision to close the restaurant, a longtime gathering place for North Lima residents, was made mutually by the Wellmans and the property owners, he said.
Plans are to raze the restaurant and a duplex building behind it within 30 days, Tamarkin said, and Executive Real Estate has no immediate plans for the property.
The partnership also owns the small plaza behind the restaurant containing a Giant Eagle store and a pharmacy.
Michele Swope, township zoning inspector, said she was sad to see the Idle Hour close, but she expects to see more commercial development in and around the busy intersection of South Avenue and Market Street.
"It was always a local hangout for as long as I can remember," she said of the restaurant. "But with all the residential growth we're seeing, I know we'll be seeing a lot of changes."