Armory may again house #8216;Patriots#8217;

Published 12:00 am Saturday, June 3, 2006

Ironton residents may soon get to huddle up at a new eatery, and the Ironton National Guard armory may have a new tenant, if a recent meeting of the Ironton Port Authority is any indication.

Rob Slagel, port authority member, said that a local businessman has approached the IPA with his intention to open a Huddle House restaurant somewhere in Ironton.

“Ironton needs a good breakfast restaurant, and he thinks this will be a winner,” Slagel said. “We’re going to be showing him some places next week. So it’s pretty neat.”

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Huddle House offers a full line of diner-style fare from sandwiches and hamburgers to waffles and other breakfast items. The closest franchise to Ironton is around 20 miles away in Grayson, Ky.

Slagel said that he didn’t know of any timeline for the project, but said that the businessman was eager to act.

“I think he’s full-steam ahead, he wants to build a building and get thing’s started,” Slagel said.

Slagel also said that just a couple of months after the group had purchased it, the National Guard armory may soon be filled. He said that Patriot Ambulance, which currently operates out of the former River Valley Hospital building, has expressed an interest in the property as they outgrow their current location.

The EMS service, in operation since November of 2004, has asked to lease the building from the IPA, who purchased it for $100,000 in mid-March.

Although the building had been viewed as a tool to possibly lure a new employer to the area, Slagel said that there was also a lot of value in keeping employers like Patriot put.

“The port authority’s job is to create jobs and retain jobs,” Slagel said. “If they’re outgrowing that building they’re going to go somewhere, and we want it to be within the city limits.”

Slagel said that the IPA will soon be formally showing the building to Patriot, but that they had walked the building before and were interested in it.

“If we can come to terms with them, they may be a tenant,” Slagel said.