The Collegian

Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News

Construction continues on Time Out Sports and Spirits, an expansive restaurant and entertainment venue scheduled to open as soon as January 2008. Owner Jim Alcock said the restaurant will cater to families and a mature sports bar crowd.

They've got a thousand things to do. A new baby, too.

Just days before construction began on the first interior wall of Time Out Sports & Spirits - a restaurant, bar and entertainment venue at 3271 W. Carleton Road that could open by January - Jim and Shelly Alcock welcomed Tyler Richard, their second son, into the world.

Now the future restaurant owners and proud parents are balancing time with their boys and the big and bite-sized details of launching a sports bar.

"The booths are being built right now ... the equipment is ready to be shipped in ... the walls are going up," Jim said last week.

"We take it one day at a time," said Shelly, who stays home with the
children except for occasional trips to the building where Jim tends to the "thousand things every day" that make blueprints a restaurant reality. "It's a huge undertaking. I'm glad we're doing it, though."

More than 12 months in the making, the rise of Time Out comes within weeks of city survey results in which residents called Hillsdale's lack of entertainment and restaurants one of the city's weaknesses. City officials point to Time Out, a new Peebles department store, rehabilitation at the Keefer House and other behind-the-scenes developments as signs of increasing economic momentum.

"This town needs something. There's nowhere to go to catch a ball game," Jim said, pointing across the mostly gray and vacant stone space which he hopes will soon be just what the city needs.

Jim, who moved back to Hillsdale in 2000 after owning restaurants in Coldwater, Mich., and Chicago, said city officials have aided the construction process.

"When I've mentioned stuff, they've dug in," he said.

Hillsdale Economic Development Director Jay Bahr said Time Out is one of a growing number of developments spurred by a new commercial zoning tax break program. Bahr anticipates continued entertainment growth.

"Probably within the next year or year and a half we're going to see some pretty high-end dining options popping up just in downtown Hillsdale," Bahr said. "You throw on top of that some casual and fun dining ... like Time Out ... which is going to fill a few different niches. There's a lot going on in terms of the background work and behind the scenes stuff."

Continued...

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