Walk Briggs Street toward Kattell this month and most of the activity is behind construction fencing. At 656 Kattell Street, a building is being renovated into a restaurant. At 512 Briggs Street, there's a sign-up for a play space that hasn't opened yet. At the corner of Wells and Kattell, there's a lot the Town's Urban Renewal Authority plans to hand to a developer at no cost so it gets built on. Coal Creek Park, at 575 Kattell Street, sits at the end of the walk. It has already hosted Erie Brewfest this month and will host the start of Eerie Erie on Halloween morning.
Put those addresses on one map and Old Town's next phase becomes clear. The new projects are clustering where Briggs Street meets the park, and they run on very different schedules.
The restaurant closest to the park
Johnny Bechamel's is the project most people in Erie are asking about. The Town's September 14 business newsletter said the restaurant "prepared for their Fall 2026 opening" over the past month and listed it as under construction. The Erie page on the restaurant's own website says "The rumors are true" and promises "we're opening up a spot in Erie this fall!" It gives no date and asks for newsletter sign-ups to hear details first.
The concept is Italian-American: handmade pasta, Neo-Neapolitan-style pizza and cocktails. In April 2025, The Denver Post reported that the restaurant comes from Mamas & Papas Hospitality Group co-founders Spencer White, Alex Figura and Lulu Clair, the team behind Dio Mio and Redeemer Pizza. The Erie spot has been in the works for a while. The Town's June 8 newsletter described demolition and renovation underway at 656 Kattell. By August it was "progressing," and by mid-September it was preparing to open.
As of October 6, nothing published shows it as open. "This fall" is the most precise date anyone has given.
A daytime anchor on the 500 block
Little Grove at 512 Briggs Street is a different kind of business for downtown. It's an indoor and outdoor play center with a coffee bar, built for kids ages 0 to 7, with 1,740 square feet inside and 2,000 square feet outside. The Town reported a signed lease in June and construction in September.
The membership page explains much of the street-level interest. Little Grove offered founding memberships before opening: 20% off for life to the first 50 families, then 15% off for life to the next 50. The first tier is marked sold out. The same section mentions a "November grand opening" and says founding members won't be billed again until December. The FAQ on the same site still says only that it's "targeting a Fall 2026 opening."
The posted pricing and hours are worth knowing, with one caveat: they were published before the doors opened, so they may change.
| Item | Listed on Little Grove's site |
|---|---|
| Unlimited monthly play | $75 one child, $110 two, $135 three or more |
| Founding member rates | Starting at $64, $94 and $115 |
| Drop-in | $25 per child 12 months+, $17 per sibling, $12 for an infant visiting alone |
| Adults | Free, up to two per family |
| Weekday hours | 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. |
| Weekend hours | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays may close for private events |
The midday gap is on purpose. The site says it closes from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays "for sanitation & reset." Combined with the Saturday and Sunday hours, that puts a steady daytime stream of families on the 500 block of Briggs. Most of what's planned for this end of town comes back to that pattern.
The slower project at Wells and Kattell
The biggest change in this area hasn't been built yet, and its deadline is two years away.
In December 2025, the Town of Erie Urban Renewal Authority unanimously approved a plan with local developer Rearview Mirror Concepts. The plan is a 10,000-square-foot, 1.5-story mixed-use building at the corner of Wells and Kattell. It will have a full-service restaurant, a local homemade ice cream shop, a bakery and two small retail spaces. The Town called it the first new commercial project in Historic Old Town since 2021. It also said the design will "make the area more welcoming and walkable, connecting Briggs Street to Coal Creek Park."
The project sits right next to an existing gathering spot. The Town described it as a new entrance to the east side of downtown that complements the Park West building, home to Erie Social Club. Erie Social Club is at Suite 120, 105 Wells Street. In June the Town held a business roundtable there. Economic Development Manager Stephanie Pitts-Nagus said at the approval:
"This is the kind of project that adds life to Old Town. It builds on the momentum of recent investments and brings more places for residents to gather, eat, and enjoy our downtown."
The financing explains the timeline. The authority bought the site in 2025 and will give it to the developer at no cost. It will also cover a validated $1 million funding gap using up to $1.9 million of the new property and sales tax the project generates, and the Town only begins covering costs once the building is open and producing revenue. The agreement requires construction to start by December 31, 2027, and finish by December 31, 2028.
As of the September 14 newsletter, the Town said planning "continues" on the project. That update lists the site as 130 Wells Street and 150 Briggs Street, while the December announcement listed 130 Wells Street and 570 Kattell Street. Either way, the ice cream and the bakery are a project measured in years, not weeks.
The alleys behind the 500 and 600 blocks
Most of this new business faces Briggs Street. The Town's next public works project is behind it. The Briggs Street Alley Project will pave four alleys along the 500 and 600 blocks, the same blocks that hold Little Grove and the stretch leading to Kattell.
The next chance to ask about it is a drop-in open house on Tuesday, October 13, from noon to 2 p.m. at Town Hall, 645 Holbrook Street. It has no presentation. Project managers will answer questions about overhead power lines, drainage, paving, costs to property owners, traffic, commuting and parking impacts, and the timeline. The Town asks visitors to use the northernmost entrance near the main parking lot. Questions go to [email protected]. No construction dates have been published, so the open house is the place to get them.
This builds on the earlier work out front. The 2024 Downtown Infrastructure Project ran from Cheesman to Moffat, adding trees, planters, irrigation, new curbs and upgraded streetlights. The Town's project FAQ reported restaurant patios and parklets installed as of June 2025.
The rest of the "coming soon" list
Several other names on the Town's September list are worth watching. Erie Cor Arts is listed at 365 Briggs Street. Whitney Lane Aesthetics is moving to a new location at 149 S Briggs Street. Neither has published an opening date or many other details.
The CO-Create Erie Makerspace is close. The building received its Certificate of Occupancy, and the Town said it was ready for CO-Create Erie to move in and set up. The operator describes shared workspace with woodworking, pottery, sewing, laser cutting, 3D printing and electronics. Enrollment hasn't opened. Planned monthly rates are $50 for an individual and $100 for a household, with a $30 founding rate, and the operator notes they may change before launch.
October already runs through this end of town
The new businesses are arriving on streets the Town's event calendar already uses. On Saturday, October 24, from 3 to 6 p.m., Boo! on Briggs Street takes over downtown for free trick-or-treating. It includes a family costume contest, music and face painting, and Erie Uplink will collect donations for its Tiger Packs program. A week later, on Halloween morning from 9 to 11 a.m., Eerie Erie's 5K and 10K start at Coal Creek Park. The route runs through historic downtown and along the Coal Creek open space trails, and the 10K passes Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The day before, Town Forester Tom Read leads the year's last Tree Diversity Walk at noon from the flagpole at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 520 Colliers Blvd. Halloween costumes are encouraged.
After that, the We Love Erie business collective has Shop Small Erie on Saturday, November 28, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Carriage rides run that day from noon to 2 p.m. and on Thursdays December 3, 10 and 17 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. If Little Grove's November grand opening and Johnny Bechamel's fall target both hold, those holiday weekends will be the first with both open on the walk between Briggs and the park.
If you live near Old Town and want to know what the new businesses and the alley project could mean for your block, Flatirons Brokerage is happy to talk it through. We follow these projects closely, and we're glad to share what we're learning about how changes like these affect nearby homes. Let's Connect.
