1971 Press Photo Silver Quill, 12900 Lake Avenue Restaurant
The beloved spot has housed Swingos on the Lake and the Silver Quill -- seen here in this 1971 photo.
(Mitchael J. Zaremba)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One of Cleveland's most beloved restaurant locations is getting a new life.
Cleveland restaurateur Tony George has taken over the space that once housed Swingos on the Lake. He expects a late-2017 opening for the as-yet-unnamed spot.
Located near Pier W, in the Carlyle on the Lake condominium complex in Lakewood, the space boasts stellar lake and downtown views - not to mention 8,800 square feet to play with.
(Note: On Friday, The Plain Dealer reported that Tony George has stepped in to take over Crop Bistro in Ohio City.)
"How many spaces offer these kind of views?" says George, a veteran bar and restaurant developer who founded the Harry Buffalo chain in 1996.
No doubt. It was considered the pre-eminent perch for views when it was Swingos and before that the Silver Quill. So why has it been shuttered since 2009?
"That's a good question," says George, "one we are trying to figure out right now."
George has commissioned a study on the area to help determine a concept for the location, which he purchased from the Cuyahoga County Land Bank.
"If it were down to me, I'd do a Frank Sinatra-type place," says George, who has been in the bar and restaurant business since the mid-1970s. "But I don't think that would work these days."
It did many years ago, when Swingos on the Lake boasted an old-school, Rat Pack-style snazz.
(Owner Jim Swingos, who passed away in 2015, actually would host Sinatra - often for days at a time -- at Swingos Celebrity Inn. The legendary Euclid Avenue and East 18th Street hotel was the life of the party for many a musician in the 1970s, even when downtown was dead.)
George is looking to balance the spot's past with a whole new concept.
"I'm working on it while the space is being demolished, right down to the concrete columns and walls," he says. "It's hard to imagine a place like this has been empty so long."
He points to some early findings in his study.
"You know that the half-mile around this space is the most densely populated area between New York and Chicago?" he says. "I say half-mile because the other half is all lake - which means we have a lot of people here and some great views."
The nine-location Harry Buffalo chain is part of Corporate Management Group, which has been run since 2006 by George's son, Bobby. The company includes Bobby George concepts Barley House, TownHall Ohio City and the recently opened Rebol on Public Square.