A restaurant planned for Downtown Culver hopes to improve its atmosphere while increasing diners’ safety. Lucrezia Restaurant, an Italian restaurant with locations in Chesterton and Crown Point, is planning a third location in Culver. It will be located at the former site of the Corndance Café at the corner of Main and Madison.
The restaurant plans to continue using the second floor of the building for dining, but Culver Town Manager Jonathan Leist says that will require a few upgrades. “It’s been essentially deemed not safe for that without a second fire escape,” he told the town council last week. “So the builder was trying to come up with some options for what they can do to make that safe and still be able to use that space for actual seating.”
To do that, Leist says Lucrezia Restaurant plans to go above and beyond a traditional fire escape. “The first-floor roof that is on the south end of the building facing Madison Street, they would like to finish that out as a deck – I think they’ve already purchased the door for it – and make an exit up there, as well as outdoor dining,” he said. “Then they would need a stairway to get down, basically for the fire escape purpose.”
The Culver Town Council voted last week to allow Lucrezia Restaurant to use a portion of the Madison Street sidewalk for the proposed stairway, as long as enough sidewalk space is kept clear for ADA compliance.
Council president Ginny Bess Munroe supported the plan. “I like the fact that it would still be ADA compliant,” she said. “It’s much safer for an escape route. I can’t imagine climbing down a ladder, even at anyone’s age. And the deck and outdoor dining is kind of a cool thing.” The design of the deck and stairway will be finalized as the process moves forward.
