The corner of West Walnut Street and University Parkway sits unusually empty with several piles of rubble, as well as a lone shell of a building with an eye painted on the roof, occupy a commercial space with heavy traffic.
Previously, a restaurant named Poor Richard’s sat there, whose sign is still standing over the construction site. The Smoke Shop Catch 22 was also previously on the site, before moving to a newer building just down the road.
Bulldozers and workers seem to be busy demolishing some parts of the site and building up others, leaving many wondering what is being built there. In December, the Johnson City Press wrote that “A roughly $800,000 renovation at 827 W. Walnut St., the former home of a popular off-campus deli, will divide the building into a commercial space for three tenants, including a Pizza Hut.”
“I don’t want to say… I’m a little superstitious about these things, and I don’t want to quite say yet,” the developer answered when asked whether a Pizza Hut was being built on the lot.
While they didn’t specifically mention a price tag, the developer did explain that a large amount of money went into making the site not only sellable, but also as part of the ongoing project to rebuild West Walnut Street.
Developers mentioned the building would be all brick and compliment the city’s project on the road nicely. They stated that the building is being made fully up to city code, with an entirely new roof being put in, as well as a new air conditioning unit.
For now, the site still sits under construction, but within the near future there will be some new businesses just off of campus.
