`Work-in-progress gets zoning board approval`

By Hal Johnson
Herald Staff Writer

With construction well under way, Pymatuning Township Zoning Hearing Board Wednesday gave Winner Buildings the OK to continue with its facelift of a 40-plus-year-old mini-plaza at 360 N. Hermitage Road.

Built in the 1950s, the building housed early enterprises of entrepreneur James E. Winner Jr., developer of The Club line of anti-theft devices.

Winner’s construction division began by upgrading sidewalks, but later decided to put on a new front with a canopy, said Ed Steffey, a member of the zoning hearing board. "Their idea is to clean up an eyesore," he said.

The board’s approval was necessary because the sidewalks and the canopy put the building too close to the four-lane state Route 18 under the current zoning codes. When the building was built, Route 18 was a two-lane road and the building probably preceded township zoning laws, Steffey said.

The zoning hearing board granted the variance. Jeff Daugherty, a supervisor with the Winner construction division, represented the company, but gave no explanation of future plans after the facelift. The mini-plaza houses one tenant - The Encore which sells second-hand clothing.

Winner started out there in the 1970s with a music store and a dress shop. He is better known now for businesses including The Winner, which retails off-price women’s wear and the Vocal Music Group Hall of Fame and Museum, both in downtown Sharon and Tara, the inn in Clark.

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Updated July 14, 1998
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