Lower Cass Corridor retail, restaurant scene poised to blossom

Cass Avenue south of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard is slowly gaining momentum as a commercial corridor ... and current businesses in the district -- including Canine to Five, Mantra, Showcase Collectibles and the Burton Theatre at the Burton School -- may very well be getting some neighbors if developer Joel Landy has anything to do with it. He has purchased the buildings that housed the Charlotte Lounge, Chung's, the Gold Dollar and the Chinese On-Leong Assoc. and has plans to renovate them into viable structures and then lease them.

Landy, whose other projects in the area include the Addison Building and the Burton, is currently meeting with funders and potential tenants, including restaurateurs, for the buildings. "There is a tremendous interest in retail, and I'm willing to work with new business owners," he says, adding wryly, "I'm like a business incubator not funded by any government agency."

Momentum from the strip's existing businesses is key to Landy's vision. "All of them are great businesses," he says. "It's a great little start of a retail district."

Source: Joel Landy, Cass Avenue Development
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh