By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
After the Wagon Wheel collapsed in downtown Lake Orion in January 2014, curious patrons wondered exactly what would manifest one day at 102 S. Broadway.
For those of you who guessed another restaurant, pat yourselves on the back. ?
Owner Dia Zaraga has submitted his second round of design plans for the location that historically held the State Theatre, Savard & Son True Value Hardware, a youth center, and the tavern.
The design plan calls for a 6,000 sq. ft.? bar/entertainment restaurant with a potential for around 75 tables and 76 seats at the bar, an outdoor patio, and a seasonal second story.
Plans were first reviewed in October. Planning commissioners were scheduled to review the second set of revisions April 6, however the meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum.
Planning and Zoning Coordinator Mario Ortego said commissioners would see the design revisions for the first time at the next planning commission meeting’May 4.
Zaraga withheld any comments until speaking with his architects at Stephen Auger and Associates Architects (SA&A) who have been designing the two-story building.
The site is zoned downtown center (DC) and must complement rather than detract from the downtown character. No operator has been assigned to the restaurant at this point.
‘It is required to be or look like a two-story building, so he is going to have a second story fa’ade,? Ortega said, in order to exemplify the character of other downtown buildings.
Depending on how the next meeting goes, commissioners could approve the plans, approve them with conditions, deny them, or ask the designers to submit more drawings based on the discussion topics of the evening.
Discussion topics could include spacing within the restaurant’whether there is enough to host a permanent entertainment stage’requirements for a heated outdoor patio, whether or not the second story would have to be enclosed, and exterior styling, among other ideas that could pop up.
Designers have already addressed one of the major engineering concerns, the unstable foundation of the site, with more advanced engineering, including an additional bracing wall in the basement.
If the plan is approved as is, diners could cozy up to two bars, one on the first floor and a seasonal bar on the second floor, enjoy the open-air seating in the seasonal section, and also sit at the first floor outdoor patio, which would be heated.
After design plans are approved the next step is to submit construction plans and acquire the building permits.
The Wagon Wheel collapsed last January after a weekend of heavy snow, requiring a demolition crew to pull down the rest of the building.
Although it will have a different face, locals will always remember the 25 cent popcorn, shuffleboard tournaments, cartoons, hardwood, youth programs and the hit bands in the 60’s which drew crowds from all over southeast Michigan who came for one reason, to play at the infamous Wagon Wheel.?