SEQUIM — Ground preparation work has begun on the future site of a Black Bear Diner, part of the Holiday Inn Express & Conference Center plaza.
But the inn’s owner said financing still must be secured before the restaurant’s walls go up.
Blyn-based Jamestown Excavation was using a shovel and dump trucks last week to level sites for the future restaurant and parking lot at 1471 E. Washington St., just west of Simdars Road.
“We are doing some site work before the rains come to get a jump on it,” said Bret Wirta, owner and chief executive officer of Wirta Hospitality Worldwide, the company that runs the Holiday Inn Express.
Wirta has been reluctant to say when the restaurant would be built on the 0.78-acre site because of financing issues he said were related to the dour economy.
“We are hopefully confident that we can be able to cement a lot of issues with the bank. I think, personally, we are very close.”
The restaurant would be the third Black Bear home-style food franchise in Washington state; the others are in Olympia and Federal Way.
“It will employ 50 people, with some management jobs, so there will be some really good jobs,” Wirta said.
In addition to Washington, Black Bear Diner has nearly 50 eating establishments in Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Iowa.
Wirta originally took out a city building permit, tentatively valued at $621,812.45, for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant in late 2008, records show.
A building permit extension was later granted until the end of the year.
The 125-seat restaurant and 77-room Holiday Inn Express will function independently or work together for the 250-seat conference center guests as needed, Wirta has said.
The separate hotel and restaurant sites will share am existing pond and are linked with a bridge.
Wirta said they will be linked electronically, too.
For example, hotel guests will be able to charge a meal with their room keys while restaurant guests can reserve a room while enjoying their dinner.
The restaurant’s large kitchen is designed to support busy meal times while at the same time catering hotel conference functions.
A full range of buffet-style food options will be available for business conferences, wedding receptions or reunions, according to Wirta.
The restaurants have large booths, counter seating, a private dining area and outdoor seating.
Black Bear Diner was founded in 1995 in Mount Shasta, Calif., by Bob and Laurie Manley, along with founding partner Bruce Dean.
They named it for the native bear found in Northern California, and the owners place their signature bear carvings in front of each restaurant, created by Ray Schulz of Deer Park, a city in Eastern Washington.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
