Dunkin’ Donuts construction in Belleville delayed

Belleville aldermen have approved the coffee and donut chain’s plan to tear down the old Rally’s burger joint at 660 Carlyle Ave., and Dunkin’ Donuts put the construction project out for bid in mid-January, according to Annissa McCaskill with the city’s Economic Development, Planning and Zoning department.

Back in September, officials told the BND construction would begin this month, but plans were pushed back.

The $650,000 project will begin sometime this spring.

Once Dunkin’ Donuts selects a company to build the site, demolition of the Rally’s building will begin. Keep an eye out for the wrecking ball.

Still ‘almost done’

The wait ought to be worth it. The opening of Tasty’s Chicago Grill, the much-anticipated Chicago-style eatery on West Main Street in Belleville in what used to be an Arby’s, is still pending.

It was set to open in January but finishing touches and city inspections have taken a bit longer than expected.

Workers there Tuesday said customers could be wolfing down Italian beef and Chicago-style dogs in a couple weeks.

Delivery!

The building at 801 W. Main St. in Belleville has been a lot of things, most recently a fresh foods market that never took off, but new tenants there plan to make the building home for quite some time.

That’s according to Stephen Dunn, who works as an independent service provider managing FedEx Ground trucks and routes. He and partner Michael Karban wanted office space to run their business after operating for years out of their homes.

Dunn and Karban will manage their 28 routes that stretch from Granite City down to Chester and from the Mississippi River east to Clinton County from the building. A few other independent providers also will manage their operations from the Belleville location.

On their own

Jim Thrasher, the managing broker at ERA Professional Real Estate offices in Freeburg and Sparta, announced he was striking out on his own, opting not to renew the franchise agreement he’d been operating under.

He said ERA has no other franchises in the area.

The offices will be where they’ve always been — 457 Market Place Drive in Freeburg and 1701 N. Market St. in Sparta — but Thrasher said the offices will be doing business as Asset 1 Real Estate starting Feb. 13.

This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Dunkin’ Donuts construction in Belleville delayed."