Last month in this space, it was reported that Kelsey’s Neighbourhood Bar and Grill, 5001 Legacy Park Drive in Windsor, had closed its doors. That space was quickly filled by Chuck’s Roadhouse Bar and Grill.
Now we can tell you that a new and improved Kelsey’s will re-appear a few blocks north on Walker Road with the transition of Casey’s Grill Bar, 4115 Walker, into a re-worked version of Kelsey’s original roadhouse.
“The Kelsey’s on Legacy Drive (which closed on December 31, 2015) was older and smaller and the lease ran out,” says a spokesman for the new franchisee. Casey’s was built approximately seven years ago. “It’s a beautiful building with great bones,” mentions the spokesman, noting that the makeover will entail mostly freshening up the colours and internal materials.
Both the Casey’s and Kelsey’s assets are owned by Cara Operations Limited, headquartered in Vaughn, Ontario. Cara franchises also include Harvey’s, Montana’s, Swiss Chalet and East Side Mario’s. The other Kelsey’s in the region is located at 9 Amy Croft in Lakeshore.
Jerry Wachowicz, Owner of Purple’s Lounge, at 2462 Tecumseh Road East, across the street from the Chrysler assembly plant, has sold the building to Calgary investors. “I’m 75 — I’m getting a bit too old,” says Wachowicz of his decision to get out of the bar business after 30 years. “I had a heart attack three years ago, and a triple bypass. I’ve been taking offers on the business for about three years.”
Purple’s has quite a history. When Wachowicz purchased the building 30 years ago, he converted Golden Mile Transmission, which had been operating at that location for 50 years. An athletic trainer and football team equipment manager at the University of Windsor since the 1960s, Wachowicz decided to get into the bar business in the mid-80s, almost on a whim. He named the place Purple’s Lounge after watching an episode of Eliot Ness on television featuring Chicago’s notorious Purple Gang.
The lounge has been sustained by clientele, mostly from the skilled trades, toiling at nearby auto plants — Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. The leasing of a large billboard on top of Purple’s has been another consistent revenue producer. The Calgary investors, two Vietnamese families, were scheduled to take over April 1. Mike Sleiman, of Valente Real Estate, who listed the property, says the family is in the habit of purchasing older businesses and sprucing them up.
The renovations at Purple’s Lounge will not be extensive, says Sleiman, but it will probably entail adding a breakfast service in one section of the footprint. Like many outside investors these days, the Calgarians were attracted by Windsor’s bargain commercial real estate prices. One of the families has already purchased a home in the city.
