Albany Downtown manager hopes to replicate success along Front Street, Pine Avenue

ALBANY | A project that has brought life back to downtown Albany along North Front Street and Pine Avenue will be expanded with the hope of spreading that success beyond that area.

The latest addition will be the restaurant Lounge Eleven 20, which will open next month at 113 N. Front St.

On Tuesday, owner Kari Duffy was at an Albany City Commission work session during which the alcohol license for the restaurant and lounge was on the agenda. The license application is for liquor, beer and wine consumption on premises.

The restaurant will specialize in dishes including pasta, chicken and lamb, Duffy told a Herald reporter. Duffy said she plans to have Eleven 20 open around the middle of July. She said the restaurant will be open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

With that location occupied, most of the buildings along Front Street will be occupied, including eight of the 10 owned by the city that are part of the Front Street Market area, Albany Downtown Manager Lequrica Gaskins said.

North Front Street and Pine Avenue also are located within Albany’s Downtown Entertainment District, and Duffy’s restaurant will join the two blocks in an area that includes the businesses Cool Scoops, Kingscorn Gourmet Popcorn & Treats, The Flint restaurant and Pretoria Fields Brewing. The area is also home to the Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau and Flint RiverQuarium.

Many of those buildings were vacant not many years ago, Gaskins said. Plans are to use the model on another street, which has not yet been identified.

“We’ve been very successful with that model, so we want to replicate it on another street,” she said.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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