New Restaurant on Horizon for Route 24 in Riverside

Residents hoping for revitalization in the Riverside/Flanders area may soon see signs of life.

According to Carll Austin of Colony Realty, the former Pelican Grill building, which has been empty for seven years, may soon have new owners -- and reopen as a restaurant.

The property, Austin said, is in contract, and is expected to "close shortly."

Long shuttered, one of the many boarded-up businesses that line Route 24, known to locals as Flanders Road, the building has seen many incarnations, Austin said. "It was nightclub for years and years, and then, a restaurant."

The business closed, Austin said, when a former owner passed away.

According to a 2007 listing on LoopNet, the property -- which, the site says, is now off the market -- is located at 187-191 Route 24 in Riverside, and is is 2,560 square foot building located on a 20,000 square foot lot. The listing said that in 2007, yearly taxes on the property totaled approximately $4,887.06.

Built in 1965, the former restaurant is sited on property zoned highway business. The building, the listing says, last operated as the Pelican Grill & Juice Bar in 2005.

No information regarding the sale price is currently available according to Austin.