UPDATE III: Asst. City Manager David Junger responds “Our Storm Water Engineer Julie Gyuricza received this complaint this morning and she is investigating the nature and cause of the flooding. We do not have enough information currently to know why this area flooded.”

UPDATE II: Jon writes in with a second report…”So it turns out there was a major blockage in one of the 18 inch pipes, and the city has already come out and taken care of it. They have also said they will be on the lookout for the area in the future.  I’m really pleased with how quickly the city has responded to us. I hope you let everyone know, because the city earned it’s reputation on this one….”

UPDATE: Jon writes in “Peggy already has the drain crew out looking at the area. It’s really great to see the city respond so quickly.”

Four days ago, Paula reported “rumbling on the Midway Woods yahoo group about the stalled development at Midway and S. Candler. …the latest is that the clearing of the lot has caused huge run-off problems and flooding.”

Yesterday evening, the President of the Midway Woods Neighborhood Association, Jon Rork, wrote in asking for help…

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UPDATE: Hmm…according to Carl, there has always been a T-Mobile sign in the Wolf window.  Oh well…can’t win ‘em all!

I heard buzz last week that there was finally some action inside the old Wolf Camera location at the edge of the CVS plaza on West Ponce.

Driving by this morning, I noticed a giant, pink sign in the window announcing a “T-Mobile Authorized Dealer”.

Does the neighboring AT&T store have some new competition next door?

Not sure what made me think of this, but I’m going to go with it.

Back during the battle over 315 West Ponce, when we agonized for weeks over a potential “Building A” that would sit along the West Ponce sidewalk, I proposed a compromise of allowing a restaurant on the first floor of the existing 315 office building and allowing them to use the existing exterior walkway as an outdoor patio.   My thinking went that this would help rejuvenate the space a bit without having to squeeze a new building into the current pocket park.   Of course, the parking issue would rear its ugly head, but if any lot on that street could accommodate restaurant parking, it’s that one.

Anyway, having had this idea resurface in my head this morning, I wondered what other ideas about renovating an existing Decatur building(s) might be out there floating in the ether.

The only “rule” in this thought experiment is that you can’t “build” any new, freestanding structures to make your dream a reality.

Gene Kansas Development tweets…

GKD hired by Pope & Land to sell/lease 542 Church Street in Decatur…anyone wanna buy a building?!

And that would be this property…

I know I’m not the only one that’s dreamed about the revitalization of Church Street between Ponce and Commerce.

If you had a big wad of cash, what would you do with this property?

h/t: The Ginger Fox (a.k.a. Squirrel McBusinessperson)

Ann at Mingei World Arts reports a “Greek Diner coming in” to the old Atlanta Bread Company location at Church and Ponce. She adds “They papered the windows and started indoor destruction on Friday.”

No other detail at this point, but the concept certainly sounds promising.  Stay tuned.

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Rus writes in…

Yesterday it was officially announced at The Artisan homeowners meeting (by HOA president Nan Pratt) that the Tossed/Countrywide space is going to soon be a Kaiser Permanente clinic.

We had heard rumors of this a couple months back, but had yet to receive confirmation.

We will all have our personal reactions about what SHOULD have gone there, but I don’t think anyone will argue that it’s reassuring to see some of the most expensive commercial spaces in the city still finding tenants.

UPDATE: Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne gives a few more details in the comments section…

The new office will include exam and procedure rooms, physician offices, a laboratory and a pharmacy. It will initially offer internal medicine and pediatrics for Kaiser Permanente members and additional specialties may be added. Kaiser Permanente will invest about $1.5 million in construction, furniture, equipment and IT in the property and expect to open the center in downtown Decatur in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The passing of Square Table owner, Speros Millas, inspired Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne to go back and find the “before and after” pics of the “Square Table”, which is now “Eurasia“.  Here they are…

Wow.  What a difference a steep-shingled roof makes, huh?

Lyn promises more “Before and Afters” coming soon to The Decatur Minute blog.

5th Earl Market co-owner David Bressler tells DM that the market/sandwich shop still has plans of reopening after a fire destroyed the shop earlier this year.  The open question right now is whether they will reopen in the same location or move to a new space.  It sounds like it all hinges on how quickly the current property can be rebuilt.

Couple these David statements with those made by his partner, Brian, posted July 1st on a neighborhood message board (forwarded by Winnona Park Stud) and you get a pretty decent picture of 5th Earl’s current issues and plans for the future.

We are trying to rebuild unfortunately it has been one headache after another. We are hoping they will get construction going soon. We are still waiting on plans to be finalized for the rebuild and plans still have to be submitted to the city for approval.

However, we are doing well, doing lots of research and planning for the future. David and I just returned from Spain. We literally ate our way through San Sebastian and Madrid. I am going through pictures this morning and will try and have a link up sometime soon. Thanks for thinking about us and we hope to serve you soon.

Decatur Square sure is attracting it’s fair share of oddly named restaurants lately and I for one couldn’t be happier.

First there is the Irish Pub, Dick Macks, going into the old Saba location.  Now, just a day after my wife asked me, “what the heck is going on with the old Sage space?” and I mumbled some sort of vague statement that amounted to “I don’t know…look over there! a puppy!”, Cheryl over at the Decatur Minute has the answer!

As she tells the story, after seeing some activity going on inside the restaurant this afternoon, Cheryl “peaked in” to get some answers.  She’s got a play-by-play over at the Minute, so I won’t steal her thunder entirely, but bottom line is that the Castellucci Family, which owns and operates three Mediterranean/Italian Sugo restaurants around Atlanta will be opening “The Iberian Pig” in the old Sage space sometime in August.

I can’t wait to see the signage!  Even more, I can’t wait to start calling it “the Pig” for short!

Get an idea of the new owners’ passion for food from the video after the jump…

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Scott reported yesterday that the old Tossed location in the Artisan seems to have a new tenet (noted by activity inside and an absent “For Lease” sign).

Lyn confirmed but wasn’t able to give me the name yet.  If anyone knows details spill the beans in the comments section!

P.S.  Great news for the city since that’s a pretty expensive commercial space.  Really interested to find out who it is!