Greek’s to move to new location

Anyone longing for the special Italian sauce specific to Greek’s Pizzeria’s pizza pies will have to wait a little longer than anticipated, said Greek’s owner Kyle Hawkins.\nThe original location of the restaurant closed its doors to customers Oct. 29, with the hope of being open for business sometime this week at its new home, located at 211 N. Walnut St., across from the Bluebird nightclub.\nHawkins said he is aiming to reopen by mid-November, but due to unexpected changes and the need for necessary inspections, a definite date has not been set. \nJeremy Hurley, a friend of Hawkins who is currently doing construction at the new Greek’s location, said construction is almost finished. The main focus now is getting the restaurant situated the way Hawkins wants it to be, as well as getting the kitchen machinery wired to the building, he said. \n“We’re basically just fitting Greek’s in now,” Hurley said. \nThe new restaurant will hold nearly twice the number of people as the old building, Hawkins said. The new location goes back much further, but keeps the same narrow feel of the old Greek’s, with additional space for arcade games and significantly more room for people to move around, he said. \nThe move from the old Kirkwood location was initiated by the Heartland Development Group’s purchase of the property and the company’s decision not to renew the lease for Greek’s Pizzeria, Hawkins said. Heartland Development did not return calls by press time. \n“I planned on moving at some point in time in Bloomington,” Hawkins said. “I hadn’t planned on it being so soon, but they weren’t renewing any leases so that just made things go a little faster for me.” \nHawkins said he hopes the new location will increase late-night business without taking business away from other late-night food services.\n“I’m not moving up there to start anything,” Hawkins said. “I hope I can start business and they can continue to keep their business.” \nGreek’s employee Matt Johnson thinks Greek’s’ business will increase dramatically in the new location. Johnson said Greek’s previously closed at 11 p.m., but he said it will be open until 3 a.m. in the new building. \n“I think our pizza is a lot more high-quality,” Johnson said. “I think being open later will bring in a lot of business.” \nJohnson said he and the rest of the previous staff were invited to stay on as Greek’s employees when the new location opened. Hawkins said he is currently looking to hire additional staff members to fulfill the requirements of the new building. \n“It’s a great environment, not stressful. I really like it,” Johnson said. “We’re just waiting for him (Hawkins) to move everything from the old store to the new store.”