Tenants postpone openings in Bedinger Building

The Bedinger Building was just weeks away from debuting its new renovation and some new tenants.

Then, shortly before 9 a.m. May 3, part of the building collapsed.

The Bedinger Building — also known as the Ethan Allen building — is at the corner of Kansas Street and Water Street on the southeast side of the historic downtown Liberty Square.

Rock & Run Brewery, which opened in late 2013 at 110 E. Kansas St., had planned to expand into the Building. It currently shares a wall with Bedinger so it has been closed since the collapse as it waits for city engineers to finish their investigation.

“We were going to take a portion of that space to expand the brewery size and we would add an additional tap room,” said Dan Hatcher, owner of Rock & Run Brewery. “It’s a beautiful location.”

Liberty jeweler Nickel & Suede also planned to open its first storefront in the building and has already started using 104 E. Kansas as its address on its website. The company makes leather earrings, bracelets, and chokers that are sold through its website and at specialty stores in the metro and about a dozen other states.

“The building will take a lot longer to construct; we don’t know how long, it could even be a year,” said Soren Nickels, co-owner with his wife, Kilee Nickels. “So we are looking for a temporary location for our production and for retail space.”

The owner of the building, Shane Griffin, had owned the site for about a year and had been planning to fill the space with five or six new tenants.

Northland’s Sheridan’s Frozen Custard

Readers have been asking about the status of the still closed Sheridan’s Frozen Custard at 6248 N.W. Barry Road.

A franchisee opened the Sheridan’s in late 2001, according to the franchisor, and temporarily closed it on Jan. 29, 2016, when the franchisee agreement expired.

But it didn’t end there. Indeed, litigation has been on going between the franchisor and franchisee since 2013 and the parties are due back in Johnson County District Court on June 20.

“We want to open the store back up and sell frozen custard as soon as possible,” said Jim Sheridan, founder and franchisor.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Tenants postpone openings in Bedinger Building."