When things are going well on the development front, even what at first glance appears to be bad news isn’t the case. And when it comes to work taking place on the outskirts of the White Oaks development news that recently came out is just that.

 

Back in October of 2017, Bridgeport resident Sean Oldaker announced his company – Elite Custom Builders – would be constructing a new building at White Oaks as part of 3.83 acres being developed. The building would be done under Oldaker and his partner Rob Grabow's management company, RS Management, and Oldaker said at the time an 8,000 square foot building would be going into place and would be home to two businesses.

 

One business relocated from downtown Bridgeport in Colours Inc., and actually opened shop this week. The rest of the building was set to house Elite Custom Builders.

 

Plans have changed. Elite Custom Builders will no longer be going there.

 

While that may seem like bad news, it’s likely far from it. Instead, another business will be going in its place and for many in the community it will likely put a smile on their face.

 

“Instead of our business going in there, the side opposite of Colours will have a new restaurant going in,” said Oldaker.

 

Oldaker said the new restaurant will be called Country Roads Grill and will specialize in hoagies and various other menu items that will be discussed in a future story on Connect-Bridgeport. He said the business will be ran by two of his friends and familiar names in Bridgeport – Dave Yocco and John Clifton.

 

“The design of the building is done and we’re in the process of doing the actual physical buildout inside the space,” said Oldaker.

 

Once done, the building will occupy 2,500 square feet of the building. Colours has 4,000 square feet and the remaining 1,500 square feet will be used in the immediate future for storage to allow the restaurant owners a chance to expand if they desire or if it proves necessary.

 

“It’s going to be a sit down restaurant,” said Oldaker. “They’ll also have delivery service in the immediate area, particularly White Oaks. I know they’re excited because I’ve known them both for a while and they’ve been talking about and that’s how it all came into place.”

 

The buildout should be relatively fast. Oldaker said the best case scenario would be to have the business ready for an opening in late August. If not, he said sometime in September would likely happen barring something unforeseen.

 

“There are more items we can’t control, such as health department issues that you have to go through, that makes the process a little more different,” said Oldaker.

 

So where’s that leave Elite Custom Builders and their plans to occupy a space fronting the interstate? Oldaker said, barring more interest, they will be going into the next building.

 

In fact, the company plans to start work on a second building and have it completed in short order. He said he would like to see ground broken for the second building in October or November at the latest.

 

The second building will be between 14,000 and 16,000 square feet. It will likely be the final building on the site after he had earlier discussed doing two additional structures.

 

“It was build one big building or two little ones and we’re going with a big building. Our plan right now is to take the smaller spot in the new building, but we’ve had so many people approach us that we might keep the entire building as rental and open somewhere else,” he said. “It’s a good issue to have to deal with.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo and bottom photo are of Sean Oldaker. At the top he shows the space the new restaurant will occupy, while he looks over documentation for the new business in their soon to be builtout space below. In the middle, contractors work to get the parking and driving area ready for customers for both businesses in the building on the outskirts of White Oaks.