-Broad Street for sale or rent: Natalie Simms' closer look at the property for sale and lease around one of Northwest Georgia's main business addresses.
-'Table for 30, please': Even that didn't rattle Johnny's pizza Friday night.
-Maggie May's on the move to River Crossing.
-What's for lunch in Cartersville? Check Facebook.
House passes healthcare reform bill, 219-212. Details: CNN or Fox News
-Gingrey calls 'Democrats' health care reform a' travesty.': Gingrey
-Isakson slams House passage Sunday night> Click
Your latest forecast: A dusting of snow possible?
-Today: 60% chance of rain and snow showers, becoming all rain after 11 a.m. Cloudy, with a high near 45. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
-Tonight: 30% chance of showers before 2 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 41.
-Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 63. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.
-Tuesday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39.
-Extended forecast> Click / Regional radar
What's ahead in Bartow County:
-March 23: Bartow Business Connection's monthly networking event is from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Reserve at Pettit Creek. Guests are invited to stay for five minutes or three hours. Details: Jessica Fleetwood, Fleetwood Security, 770-547-2157> Pettit Creek
-March 24: The United Way of Bartow County's annual luncheon is at noon Wednesday, March 24, at the Cartersville-Bartow Chamber of Commerce, Anheuser Busch room. The cost is $15 per person. Please RSVP by March 22 to morehouseb@bartowga.org or 770-386-1677.
-March 27: 2010 Women's Expo returns to Cartersville: The latest Women's Expo is set for Saturday, March 27, at the Cartersville Civic Center, sponsored by Coosa Valley Credit Union along with Georgia Power, Plant Bowen. The line-up: Learn about products and services that will help you look and feel better; examine career choices; sample a "Taste of Bartow;" and try your luck on the door prizes. (Schedule of Events) Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased at the Red Cross office, 320 W. Cherokee Ave., Suite 109. Call 770-382-0981. Advance ticket holders will be entered into a special door prize drawing. For more, e-mail karonmauney@comcast.net.
-March 27: 2010 Duck Derby Kickoff is 10 a.m. at Dellinger Park in Cartersville: The race itself is May 15> Details
Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable> Arey
-Hey, guys, why not just duke it out like gentlemen? Plus: A wide open NCAA tourney.
Sports/Rome Braves/State Mutual Stadium> Sports
-Rome Braves' single-game tickets on sale: Ticket prices remain the same: $10, $8,. $6 and $4. Home opener: April 16 vs. Savannah.> Sports
-Braves announced 2010 promotional schedule.
'Table for 30, please'
-A final note on the opening of Johnny's New York Style Pizza at 233 Broad St. last week. By accident, we put them to the test on an already-busy Friday night.
-Following a school event, 30 adults and kids (pre-school to middle school) arrived around 8:30 p.m. A member of the party called ahead for seating, first asking for 20 spots and eventually 30. The answer from Rob Blumberg's staff: No problem.
-Never mind that the restaurant already had a kids' baseball team on site as well as a packed house. With minimal chaos, our group was seated along the windows of one side of the restaurant and it made for a nice, almost separated setting. Kids on two tables, men at another, women at the other. Plus: each family had a separate bill. -Outcome: Pretty darn smooth. We had a few minor mishaps but all left happy with a lot of positive buzz about the food and design (good job, Mike Page).
-Also of note: the 200 block of Broad Street was packed with cars. That's when we learned Johnny's will validate parking in the parking deck for customers. That's a nice touch and beats the "there's no place to park" rap downtown has. Plus: deck parkers can use the rear door to the restaurant. Nice touch.
Broad Street shuffle:
-More changes are ahead as Maggie May's gift shop moves from 227 Broad St. to a Second Avenue-front slot at River Crossing, home of Hawthorn Suites. Maggie May's staff has been busy recovering from a small but damaging fire a few weeks ago. Look for the move in the next few weeks.
-Today's Focus: Broad Street for sale or lease> Below
Call it the Facebook Dining Menu
-We're big fans of what social media can do for business (used properly and not just for games). Two great examples come from downtown Cartersville. Both Swheat Market and Culinaria at Appalachian Grill are posting daily lunch or dinner specials. And let's stress specials:
-From Swheat: "Grilled New York strip or Alaskan salmon, poblano cheddar mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini and corn salsa."
-From Culinaria: "Crab cake with side salad only $5.99."
-What we like: simple, to the point and at least one includes the price.
Downtown Rome for sale or rent: Plenty of options available on Broad Street or nearby thanks to redesigns, some newer sites
By Natalie Simms
natsimms76@gmail.com
If you've been through downtown Rome lately, you've probably noticed a lot of available real estate. Whether for sale or lease, there are multiple properties on the market and local Realtors say it's not really because of the economy.
"One of the major reasons for the vacancies is a lot of people have redone buildings and added more space," says Jimmy Byars of Hardy Realty. "There is a deeper supply. Five years ago, we didn't have half of the office space we now have downtown. There are no new buildings; they've just redone the space."
Hardy Realty currently has one building for sale, at 111 S. Broad St. (right) and nine properties for lease downtown. In addition, the company also has five buildings for sale on nearby Professional Court.
"I really don't know why the building on South Broad hasn't sold," Byars says. "It is 90 percent new, making the new building out of an old one. Timing is everything because it was coming on the market when the economy went down. We've had a lot of interest and shown it a lot but people are just hesitant to make a decision right now."
Downtown properties for lease include:
-901 Broad St., the DLS Financial building at the corner of Turner McCall Boulevard.
- 519 Broad St. (old Adams Furniture Building): 1,000 squares feet.
-336 Broad St. (former Cherokee Lodge Building): 6,000 square feet.
-338 Broad Street (old C&S Trophy location): 1,800 square feet.
-248 Broad Street (most recently home to the Rome Area Council for the Arts): 3,000 square feet.
-204 Broad St.: 1,700 square feet
-1004 N. Broad St. (new strip center at Five Points, home to Troy's, Ru San's).
-100 E. Second Ave. (SunTrust Building): Four suites totaling 6,200 square feet.
-304 E. Second Ave. Three suites totaling 4,800 square feet.
"The Cherokee Lodge Building is just now hitting the market," Byars says. "It is newly renovated and absolutely beautiful. We have approximately 6,000 square feet of office space available. It has its own unique entrance with an elevator. There is also a lodge, apartment and catering kitchen."
Byars is working to coordinate an open house for the building with the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce. No date has been set but Byars hopes to have the event in April.
"There really is a lot more to downtown than you think…definitely a lot more office space," he says. "I'm very optimistic that one of the places to be is Downtown Rome because there is so much to enjoy. Plus people are ready for the weather to change and when it does, that will make them think about Broad Street and being downtown."
Debra McDaniel, a Realtor with Toles, Temple & Wright, has four buildings for sale on Broad Street and feels the vacancies are just part of the current real estate cycle.
"I've just seen it go in cycles," she says. "There are a lot of vacancies for lease and sale but a lot of it is timing. Those that I have for sale are not properties in distress situations; they are simply selling for business interests and not closing up."
McDaniel's current listings include:
-the current J.L. Todd Auction property at 531 and 527 Broad St. (both to the right)
-239 Broad St. (former T Martooni's and Bistro 239 restaurants).
-122 Broad St. (Loft apartment above Maximum Nutrition).
"I have had several parties looking at the J.L. Todd property. But J.L. Todd is not closing its business. The buildings are being sold as part of his estate," says McDaniel of the late auctioneer.
"I've also had several people look at the old Bistro location (right) but many want to lease and not purchase the building. However, the owner may consider a lease with purchase option because it is so hard to get a commercial loan to go through right now."
McDaniel has only had the loft apartment listing for less than a week and expects a lot of interest in the property since it includes a courtyard and 2-car garage. The apartment is owned by local businessman Roger Wade, who owns Mattress Direct at 111 Broad St.
"Since I bought 111 Broad St. and am under contract to purchase the building next door with Three Rivers Antiques, the apartment is just a surplus piece of property," says Wade. "If it sells, I will just loft out one of the other two buildings I have."
Once Wade completes the purchase of the building at 109 Broad St., he plans to open up a hot dog restaurant called "The Past Time." However, Wade says he may open the restaurant up at his current Mattress Direct location at 111 Broad St. and move Mattress Direct next door because less remodeling work would be involved.
Even with all the available real estate, downtown is still prospering, says Elaine Abercrombie of Greene's Jewelers, and president of the Rome Downtown Development Authority.
"It's very typical right now for downtown because there is always a lot of coming and going," she says. "I'm not concerned about the empty buildings because there is always something going on."
Abercrombie says there was a net gain in employees and businesses for 2009. There were 13 net jobs created. There were 22 businesses to open downtown and 11 closed, leaving net gain of 11 businesses, which is one more than 2008, which saw 10 new businesses.
"We are just real excited about everything going on downtown right now," she says. "We do have a lot of office space available but when those are filled, that will be built-in customers for our retailers and restaurants and vice-versa…it goes hand-in-hand."
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"We are really reaching more people now in a concentrated effort," says Mike Dunn, general manager. "We have to draw outside of Floyd County and we're seeing a big increase from folks outside the area like Bartow, Cobb, Polk and Alabama because they realize how much easier it is to get to Rome than Atlanta … it's definitely more attractive."
One new highlight for the season will be five themed fireworks nights presented by Chick-Fil-A. Fireworks will take place one Friday each month and feature music and a video to complement each theme. The first event will be opening night, April 16, featuring a History of Champions; May 28 will salute Georgia music/Southern Rock; June 18 will feature Classic TV themes; July 3 will be a salute to America; and Aug. 28 will feature the staff's musical favorites.
Peak to Jim Van Es: Nearly 1,000 Facebook friends--and who knows how many members of the Darlington community, past and present--can't be wrong. The outpouring of support for the 42-year veteran of Darlington last week was something we've never seen before in Northwest Georgia. Van Es has influenced a tremendous number of lives--and even a few generations--during his years at Darlington. Those folks returned the favor last week with all the postings on Facebook pages as well as personal e-mails, notes, calls, etc.
(Media release) A retired postal worker has collected a winning Fantasy 5 prize. Grady Little of White matched all five winning numbers in the March 17 drawing, winning a $139,266 jackpot. 
Advance Auto Parts presents the Tom Clayton Memorial Car Show in downtown Cartersville from 
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