Gourmet cafe proposed near new CVS store

By WENDY STIVER — wstiver@lockhaven.com
LOCK HAVEN — The CVS drug store coming to Bellefonte Avenue at Commerce Street may be joined by a gourmet coffee shop just down the block.

The avenue may be booming right now because of the Fairfield Inn that is headed for the former football stadium and will stand within a stone’s throw of the CVS site.

Also, Nestlerode Contracting Co. is working for the city to install new sidewalks and street lights. The new streetscape will give the avenue the same historic look downtown Main Street has.

“CVS, a coffee shop... Stay tuned, more to come!” Mayor Richard P. Vilello Jr. said at Monday night’s Council meeting.

The gourmet coffee shop is proposed for 209 Bellefonte Ave., the former One Stop Audio store, next to Wendy’s Restaurant.

Mike Seybold and his wife, Jessica Williams, own the building, and the Eastern Pennsylvania District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance would like to rent it and open a public coffee shop.

“We’d like to offer a full range of Espresso-based drinks as well as Smoothies and some sandwich items,” Josh Grimes of Lock Haven, a C&MA pastor, said.

No lease has been signed, he said, and “nothing’s official yet.”

The proposal first needs a special zoning exception for the number of parking spaces the site would provide. The request will come before the city’s Zoning Hearing Board on May 29.

The C&MA proposes to renovate the building so the coffee shop would cover about 790 square feet. The city requires 15 or 16 parking spaces for this type of use — one space per every 50 square feet of floor area open to public use.

The site can accommodate only seven spaces at the rear of the building, according to the request for a special exception.

“If that goes through, we’ll be able to get bids in place from contractors,” Grimes said. “We hope to open by this fall.”

He’s currently in the process of finding roasters and other equipment for the enterprise.

“We chose that place because of its location to campus and student housing and to the downtown district,” he said. “We’d like to be a bridge between the two, a place to build community, not only on campus but also within the Lock Haven community.

“We’ll have the building open like most coffeehouses for live music on the weekend, poetry readings, those types of things, also Bible studies and gatherings like that,” the pastor said. “We’ll be primarily a coffee house, and we’ll operate it with Christian principles.”

Everyone will be encouraged to use the coffee shop, Grimes said, and the atmosphere will be open and welcoming; the Christian principles behind the business probably won’t be evident to all customers.

“We’ve recognized there is a big void among the younger generation in regard to their involvement in church and spiritual things. Often that has to do with misconceptions of ‘church’ or perhaps they’ve had bad experiences in the context of a church environment,” Grimes said. “We’d like to minister in an enjoyable environment, so that’s the mindset behind the coffee shop — a place where friendships are formed and community is built.”

The proposed business doesn’t have a name yet, Grimes said, and he’s open to ideas.

“Just for fun,” he said, he’s inviting everybody in the community to submit suggestions by e-mailing them to: joshuagrimes@verizon.net.