Downtown Wooster, Meijer projects make headway
Mariola Italian, the new restaurant currently under construction on East Liberty Street in downtown Wooster, is scheduled to open in spring 2023.
Three important factors in making communities more desirable for existing and future residents include having a walkable community, a thriving Main Street and a good mix of amenities.
New investments in Wooster’s downtown area help with all three factors. In particular need of revitalization, the eastern segment of East Liberty Street past Muddy’s restaurant is seeing investment in the new Mariola Italian restaurant and a facelift to the old Tire Centers Inc. property.
More amenities are sprouting up in Wooster’s north end with the new Meijer’s building progressing, with space for more retail in the future in the same plaza.
Downtown development
After COVID-19 shutdowns had a particularly big impact on restaurants, it is noteworthy to see a new restaurant currently in the construction phase, located next to Muddy’s on East Liberty Street, as Mariola Italian is scheduled to open in spring 2023.
Mike Mariola is well-known for local restaurants including City Square Steakhouse.
“I’m most excited about bringing a casual Italian restaurant back to the foothills of Wooster’s little Italy,” Mariola said of his new restaurant.
Mariola’s father’s family is all Italian, making it a personal part of his history.
Mariola said the menus will be posted on his website by early spring at www.mariolaitalian.com/.
Chad Boreman and Matt Long are the investors behind the scenes of the newly constructed building, with the downstairs for the restaurant and the upstairs boasting eight apartments.
“We’ll be leasing the restaurant to Mike. The apartments are 90% complete now. They will be fully ready for leasing after the first of January. We already have three spoken for,” Boreman said.
Just east of the new Mariola restaurant is the old Tire Centers Inc. location, a brownfield site where there was an underground spill that needs to be remediated.
City of Wooster economic development coordinator Jonathan Millea said Michelin North America owns the site but is not responsible for the spill. The company wants to see it cleaned up.
“So the City of Wooster got some grant funds and in partnership with Michelin is cleaning up the site. The week of Monday, Dec. 12, we (demolished) the old Tire Centers Inc. building, then (inserted) drill wells to suck out contaminants. The city will later acquire the site via donation,” Millea said.
“We’re most excited about uplifting and reinventing the east end of Liberty Street,” Boreman said. “We think there is a lot of potential there with the TCI building being demolished and the city working hard to clear that site with its EPA issues. We’re looking forward to continually improving and uplifting that end of Wooster.”
North end retail
The sign for the Meijer’s storefront has been displayed at the new retail development on the north end of Wooster. “We understand that Meijer’s is working to open the doors sometime in the first half of next year,” Millea said. “We don’t have a specific date, but we know they are making progress.”
The adjacent site is owned by Menard’s, which intends to build a new facility, though the time line has not yet been confirmed.
“Redstone Development owns the space in between. They are making space available to build additional retail, and they are currently exploring opportunities for different retailers and restaurants,” Millea said.
New retail, more jobs, apartments and amenities all contribute to help make Wooster a more desirable community.
“We don’t want to be a community that sees all of their children leaving,” Millea said. “We want to have a community that has prosperity and people want to stay.”