News
Prokos Submits Plans For Stimpson Avenue Building
By: Steve Robb - Athens Messenger staff reporter
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Plans for a banquet hall and bar on Stimson Avenue have been substantially approved by the state and submitted to the city of Athens.
The building where the banquet hall/bar would be located had at one time been the proposed site of a strip club.
Demetrios Prokos, owner of the building, has obtained partial plan approval from the Ohio Division of Industrial Compliance and submitted the approved portion to the city.
Athens Code Director John Paszke said the city issued a permit last February conditioned upon Prokos submitting state-approved plans, and Paszke said the plans that have been submitted meet that requirement. Paszke said Prokos had until Feb. 24 of this year to submit them.
Paszke said the plans show a banquet hall, kitchen and bar occupying about two-thirds of the building, with two other businesses remaining in the building. The building currently houses Luxury Auto Wholesale and Trucks by Design.
Architect Mike Noel said plans approved by the state so far are considered a partial approval, and final approval won’t come until sprinkler and fire alarm plans are approved later, which is standard procedure.
As for when the project will actually start construction, Noel referred questions to Prokos.
Prokos could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
The building was part of a federal lawsuit filed against the city in 2011 by Prokos and his tenant, Christopher Stotts, that was settled at the beginning of 2014, shortly before it was scheduled to go to trial. They sued after the city would not issue permits for a strip club. The settlement, according to a joint announcement made in January 2014, called the city’s insurance company to pay $425,000 to Stotts and Prokos, and Stotts would withdraw zoning permit applications for an adult entertainment business.