Two new businesses to move to Rogers City

The former Dairy Queen building on Bradley Highway and the old Radka law office on Erie Street have been purchased and will have new businesses in 2004. Eric Richey Enterprises of Elk Rapids closed on the Dairy Queen building, which has been vacant for eight years, a couple of weeks ago. Richey plans on opening a B.C. Pizza Restaurant and employing between 12 to 15 people, mostly in part time roles.

B.C. Pizza is a franchise that?s widely seen on the west side of the northern lower peninsula. There are 17 to 18 B.C. Pizza franchises, but Richey said he doesn?t own all of them. Richey, 40, is planning to get married at the end of the year and move to Rogers City.

TENTATIVE PLANS have him opening the restaurant around January 1. Some work needs to be done, especially with the conversion of the kitchen and the cleaning of more than eight years of dust, but for the most part, Richey said the price of the building was right, and it?s ?in really good shape.?

Richey said he drives around Michigan searching for places to purchase and get running, and upon his visit to Rogers City in June, he came across the Dairy Queen building. In addition to his interest in bringing a B.C. franchise to Rogers City, he liked the town. He said it was clean and if he didn?t like it, he wouldn?t have decided to move forward with the business venture.

?I like small towns,? Richey said Monday evening from his cell phone. Richey said he?s been in the pizza business his entire life. At the Rogers City outlet he will serve a lunch buffet, soups, salads, bread sticks, and subs.

THE DEAL INVOLVING the Radka law office was closed October 8 to J & T Ventures, owners of Cheboygan Title. Jerry Malloy said business was expanding and he wanted to have a ?physical presence? in Rogers City. He said the Rogers City market is growing, and wanted to cut down on lost time due to travel. ?We?ve been doing work in the county since the 197

0s, to present day,? said Malloy. Malloy said he?ll have the office open five days a week with two employees to handle the duties of the business. His wife Tina will be involved in the training, and if the right person is hired, they?ll take over the management of the business after a year or so.

Cheboygan Title has offices on North Main in Cheboygan, and in Sault Ste. Marie, Indian River, and Petoskey. The Rogers City office may open in April or May. Local contractors are expected to be hired to do the work on the building. There have been no developments in regard to other vacant properties in Rogers City.

The party handling the sale of the Radka holdings says there has been interest in the structures downtown, but no deals yet. When asked if there was any interest in the space of the now closed Rogers City IGA, the landlord of the Mariners Mall, David Gumenick, preferred not to make a comment.