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Gamble Mill sale likely for May

EMMA GOZALVEZ/THE EXPRESS The Gamble Mill in Bellefonte, recently pictured, was closed in January 2015. New ownership is expected to take over sometime in May.

By EMMA

GOSALVEZ

egosalvez@gmail.com

BELLEFONTE — The Gamble Mill has sat vacant since early 2015, and the local community has anxiously awaited for new life to be breathed into it. After several delays to the restaurant’s sale, this is finally getting closer to becoming a reality.

May is looking to be a promising time for the closing of the sale to the soon-to-be owner Marian Bradley, according to Bellefonte Borough Manager Ralph Stewart. The sale was expected to be closed last August, with original plans to open the restaurant as early as this spring.

“One of the reasons that this is happening is that the property is in a bankruptcy proceeding,” Stewart explained. “There are many parties that must be satisfied that all paperwork is in order.”

Once the sale finally goes through, MBPB Holdings, Bradley’s business partnership, will start work on the design of the restaurant and get permits for renovations.

“Once permits are in hand, renovations will start with the goal to be done and be open in late 2017 or early 2018,” Stewart said.

The Gamble Mill has been known as a regional destination for many years, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. With the first phase of the Bellefonte Waterfront Project completed last summer, which consisted of a walkway and flood wall along the nearby Spring Creek, and hopes for a hotel and other commercial buildings to be developed in the future, there is no better time for the Gamble Mill to reopen.

“I believe MBPB Holdings has a vision to make the Gamble Mill even bigger and better than what it was,” Stewart said. “I am truly optimistic that the Gamble Mill, the Waterfront and downtown Bellefonte are on a path of growth and prosperity over the next several years.”

Bradley, who is from the Billings, Mont. area, has owned several businesses, and the Gamble Mill will be her first venture into the restaurant business. Bradley told The Express last summer that her plans for the restaurant, which will have the modified name of “Gamble Mill on the Waterfront,” include reopening both the downstairs and upstairs bars, along with once again displaying local artwork and having live music.

Bradley previously said that she also hopes to have some outdoor seating and possibly a bigger venue for outdoor weddings with some of the open space by the Waterfront. There will also be new chefs and the restaurant’s previous brewmaster will be hired for the brewery, which Bradley hopes to expand.

Bradley said that she and her husband had been interested in restoring a historic building for a while and when she found out through local friend Joanne Tosti-Vasey that the restaurant was for sale, she saw it as the perfect opportunity.

“I’m looking forward to the sale and subsequent renovations,” said Tosti-Vasey, who is a member of the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association. “When it reopens, this revitalized restaurant will bring more people back to dine at another great dining venue in Bellefonte and it will help further boost our local economy.”

Originally, the site of the historic building was home to a grist mill for grinding grain and was constructed by William Lamb, the namesake of the adjacent Lamb Street, according to Sue Hannegan, assistant director for the Centre County Planning and Community Development Office, who has given Bradley and her business partners some direction on how they can keep the building historical. The mill was a significant part of bellefonte until it was destroyed by fire in 1892.

The building that stands there today was purchased by George Gamble and was reconstructed on the mill’s former limestone foundation. It continued to serve as a grist mill until 1947, Hannegan said. Since then, it has served as a restaurant under various ownerships.

Bradley could not be reached for further comment as of press time.

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