Franciscan Square Phase One Completed (Steubenville):
So in this post, I'm going to stray away from Wheeling a bit. Today I am going to go over a big development in Steubenville - Franciscan Square. This mixed-use development is located on
University Boulevard down the hill from the Franciscan University of Steubenville campus. The university bought up most of the previously undeveloped land on the south side of University Boulevard. The first phase of Franciscan Square is complete - it brought a new Best Western Plus hotel, two retail buildings, and small greenspace. A Bennigans is also being built and will open in July.
A rendering of phase one of Franciscan Square:
The new Best Western Plus: Inn at Franciscan Square:
This week, two restaurants opened in the square. Brooklyn Bagel on the Square serves coffee from La Prima (a Pittsburgh Strip District based coffee company) as well as bagels, bagel sandwiches, and more. Believe it or not, they are actually the first real coffee shop in the Steubenville area - needless to say I am excited that I now have more options that Tim Hortons when I'm in Steubenville. The second restaurant, Rubi's Pizza & Grill, is a new restaurant owned by the owners of the former Corrado's Pizza in the Fort Steuben Mall - They moved here and shut down their mall location due to the mall going through extremely rough times after losing two of their three anchor stores. The restaurant will be a casual restaurant for pizza, calzones, sandwiches, & more.
The exterior of Brooklyn Bagel on the Square:
The interior of Brooklyn Bagel:
Future phases include the Bennigans (as I mentioned before), office space, and possibly more retail depending on the demand. I visited the development and it looks nicer than expected. There are still 3 or 4 retail spaces open. I like how everything is centered around the central grass "square" area - I can see that being a neat gathering space in the summertime.