A successful local bar owner is looking to launch two more restaurant-bar establishments along the growing entertainment corridor of Commerce Avenue in Grand Rapids that has seen construction of apartments, condos, and a fine art gallery.
According to excerpts from the story:
The owner of downtown's bustling HopCat beer bar has a couple of new restaurant and bar concepts in the works that should help liven things up on Commerce Avenue SW this spring. Mark Sellers recently purchased a former auto repair place at 53 Commerce Ave. SW with plans to open the two bars there by May.
Stella's Lounge (named for Sellers' two-year-old yellow lab) will feature a 1970s vibe with an entrance off the alley at the rear of the building facing Ionia Avenue SW. He's hired artist Erwin Erkfitz to create works that will hammer home the theme. You may remember Erkfitz from his colorful ArtPrize entries on South Division Avenue and Cherry Street SW.
The second bar, Viceroy, will have a more Art Deco aesthetic, face Commerce and feature work by Kendall College's Jeff Burtle, whom Sellers thinks is one of the city's great unknown talents. Sellers is bullish on the Commerce corridor thanks to 38 Commerce, the mixed-use project across the street which is nearing the final stages of construction, and Gallery on Fulton, which is set to open in September.
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