Members of the Chadds Ford
Business Association got a taste of a new catering business while being updated
on Costco, Whole Foods and expansion plans for the Rachel Kohl Community
Library.
The CFBA held its February
meeting at Brandywine Catering in the Plaza at Chadds Ford on Route 1.
Brandywine Catering’s general manager is Ted Pace, former owner of the Pace One
restaurant in Thornbury Township.
Pace said the restaurant
suffered because of the recession, coupled with a construction project that
never went through.
“It was a matter of saying it
was time to leave,” Pace said.
The owners of the catering
business approached him to be the general manager and he accepted. Pace said it
seemed to be “a good marriage” of his talents with their business plan.
“The best thing is that I don’t
have to worry about a restaurant anymore,” Pace said.
The Route 1 location has
facilities for parties and small weddings, while the business is a full service
catering operation.
Speakers during the Feb. 1
luncheon meeting included Dominic Pileggi, supervisors’ chairman in Concord
Township and Greg Chestnut, president of the board of Rachel Kohl Library.
Concord Township
Pileggi told the group that
Costco has broken ground for its store on Evergreen Drive in the Shoppes at
Brinton Lake and the goal is for the store to be open by the end of 2012. About
200 people will be employed there with salaries and benefits in the $15 to $18
per hour range.
In other news about Brinton
Lake, Pileggi said there are four tenants that are in negotiation to take over
the old Border’s Bookstore location. The site will be divided into four. One of
the tenants will be a division of Urban Outfitters, while another will be a
shop specializing in women’s jewelry and handbags.
“A lot of people are glad it’s
not another bank,” he joked.
Pileggi also said Whole Foods,
coming into Glen Eagle Square, will likely open around the first of April. He
said the corporation likes to open stores at the beginning of a quarter. He added that the store will have a liquor license.
He also confirmed that there’s
an agreement of sale for a Wegman’s to move into Concord in the vicinity of
Applied Card Way across Route 202 from Hillman Drive in Chadds Ford Township.
Rachel Kohl Library
Chestnut said that the library
retained the services of a consultant who said the facility had only 25 percent
of the space needed to care for its eight municipalities. He reported that the
consultant also said staying in the same location, but expanding the facilities,
would be the most efficient thing to do.
The library is remaining on
Smithbridge Road in front of Garnet Valley Middle School where it shared a
building with Concord Township. The township moved into a new municipal
building and the library bought the old space in 2010.
Plans call for an expanded
children’s library and a space for young adults, upgraded meeting rooms and
enhanced patron amenities.
Chestnut said the first big
question was the cost. Estimates range from $2.8 to $3.1 million for
everything: interior as well as exterior work including the parking area.
“The other big question is
where this is coming from. To be honest, we don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re at
the stage where we wanted to have specific plans for what we wanted to do before
we started to [approach] the public, before we started to approach the
townships or anybody else and started asking for money.”
While he said the library board
is close to knowing what they want to do, the first thing will be to hire a
professional fund-raiser. They will also look into getting grants from the
state and from corporations.
Library Director Gena Kerrigan
said 91,000 people used the library in 2011. There were 350 children’s programs
and 156,000 books lent out last year.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
