By Dan McDermott
12:52pm EST January 4, 2024
STRASBURG, Va.—Several members of Strasburg Town Council expressed delight at progress being made at the former Jalisco Restaurant located on lots including 344 and 346 E King Street.
During the council comments section of the Jan. 2, 2024 work session, Councilman Andrew Lowder said he had discussed with his kids the appearance of the building. “It looks like a fire trap, like an accident waiting to happen,” Lowder said.
“I reached out to Brian [Otis, Planning & Zoning Administrator] and he said final notice had been sent out in mid December [2023] and he said they had still not had any contact from them and that they could go to court or we could contract out the violations abated and we could put out a lien on the property for the cost of the abatement. If you did the abatement then you’d have a signed contract to come in and remove the Jalisco signs and then have another contract to remove the items that are a nuisance,” Lowder said.
Strasburg Mayor Brandy Hawkins Boies then said that the property had just been cleaned up. “It looks amazing. You wouldn’t have known unless you rode by. It looks really good,” Boies said.
“Hopefully they’ll find buyers. I know they’re trying to sell it. It looks a lot safer,” she said.
Administrator Otis said he had been worried. “Numerous times I’ve tried to reach out to the property owner and it was difficult. Then out of the blue it looks [better.] The only underlining thing that’s still there is technically the signage. Anytime a commercial entity stops they need to remove their signage,” Otis said.
Council member Christie Monahan asked Otis if he could contact the realtor.
“That was going to be my next step and then [Town Manager] Waverly texted me a picture and said, ‘have you seen this?’” Otis said.
There was broad consensus that it is a great location for a new business to consider and there appeared to be a plurality that a Thai eatery would be an agreeable option.
The observation that the old Jalisco has always been a great location was shared by realtor Ken Evans, who’s name appears on signage on the property.
“It is not listed for sale right now and I couldn’t get my sign down because I’m not allowed to go upstairs for safety reasons per County/Town,” Evans said via text message.
The Shenandoah County GIS website shows the building has been owned by Zambrano Inc. since 2008.
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