Interior renovations will begin in several weeks

Passersby in front the former Susan’s Coffee and Tea may have noticed some changes in the building’s exterior recently.

Randall Matejka, president of DesignWise Construction Co. in Cleveland

and the architect overseeing the building’s conversion to a Five Guys

Burgers and Fries restaurant, said renovations to the space began in

the middle of November. Such changes included paving the parking lot,

patching exterior concrete and applying a first coat of exterior paint.

“The exterior is basically done,” Matejka said.

Workers at DesignWise will probably be starting interior renovations

within the next two to three weeks, Matejka said. For now, a great deal

of the work lies in submitting plans for review, which is the process

of having different aspects such as the structural accessibility,

plumbing and electricity cleared by the Kent Building Department. He

said revised drawings were mailed yesterday in response to the second

building review, dated Oct. 29.

The first building review was dated for Oct. 13. It took place after

the Kent Building Department received the building permit application

from the franchisee, Wholesome Development, LLC, Oct. 6.

Robert Nitzsche, chief building official at the Kent Building

Department, said the number of reviews that take place depends on

whether the contractor has met the reviewer’s list of requirements,

which include local building and fire requirements as well as state

codes.

“Once they have met that list it’s just a matter of issuing the

building permit, so they can start interior renovations,” Nitzsche

said. “We gave them the go ahead to do (the exterior changes) because

they didn’t affect the building structure.”

The project should be completed by the end of February or the beginning of March, Matejka said.

Contact public affairs reporter Denise Wright at [email protected].