After the recent two-way streetscaping conversion, Gay Street quickly has become the gem of Downtown with new restaurants, businesses, and residences flocking to the area. And a quick stroll down the sidewalk this morning reveals that even more is on the way.
We previously mentioned that J. Gumbo’s would be taking over the old Skambo space at 31 E. Gay Street, and a lot of progress has been made to the interior in the past few weeks.
In the space next door, the Faithfully Yours Childcare service currently located in the back of the building is expanding around to the front retail space.
One more unit down at 37 E. Gay Street also has a “coming soon” sign for a business called Shine Me Up, which will provide shoe repairs, footwear sales, foot massages, and some convenience store items.
Right next door to Tip Top, in the window of a recently closed hair salon, there is now a “coming soon” sign for The Plantain Cafe. The sign doesn’t provide many details other than their slogan: A Taste of Cuba.
And lastly, as a bit of a non-update, no progress appears to have been made on the space that was said a year ago to become a new Zen Cha Tea Salon. Not sure if it’s too early to consider that project abandoned, but I imagine with so many other spaces filling in that it won’t sit empty for too long.
Now that Gay Street is filling in, should it be time to consider the next couple of Downtown streets for two-way streetscaping conversions? How about Main Street? Or Long Street? Or Fourth Street? Or the rest of Front Street? Bring on the renovations!