Heard On The Street

The owner of Carrots N’ Dates — a 10-yearold healthy full service restaurant and bakery — is planning a major redevelopment project for the intersection of Lesperance Road and Tecumseh Road East in Tecumseh. Troy Maleyko has purchased two buildings at the intersection and intends to demolish both and replace them with a new three-storey building to house his restaurant with plans for the upper two floors still to be determined. Another building at the rear of the property, which once was home to a boxing gym and a pizzeria, will also be demolished, to make way for a parking lot and another yet-to-be-determined use. “We’re anticipating our second-floor tenant will be complementary to our own restaurant, so we’ve just going to throw the options out there and see if anyone is interested,” explains Maleyko. “We’re hoping that whatever goes in will be recession and pandemic-proof going forward.” The two buildings will have more than 25,000 square feet of space with demolition of the existing buildings expected to have started by late March. “We’re aiming for construction to begin by the end of spring,” he adds. Maleyko expects the entire project to take about 12 months and he will vacate Carrots N’ Dates current location at 1125 Lesperance Road by the end of 2022. He anticipates more development to come in an area earmarked for $30-million in streetscaping just blocks from a number of new high rise developments and condominium buildings between Lesperance and Banwell Road. For more information on the restaurant and bake shoppe menus, visit: CarrotsnDates.com.

Two Tecumseh businesses displaced by a major development (see previous blurb) in the works by Troy Maleyko, Owner of Carrots N’ Dates, at the intersection of Lesperance Road and Tecumseh Road East, have relocated. Tecumseh Gold Exchange can now be found at 4557 Tecumseh Road East in a plaza where a Giant Tiger store is located and Flowers by Phil Sadi has relocated to 1038 Lesperance Road. Tecumseh Gold Exchange Owner Andy Lowicki, who had been in his previous location for 11 years, says the move, which took place in early December of 2021, has been beneficial. “It’s a nicer building and there’s ample parking, so I’m quite happy with the move,” says Lowicki who has been in the exchange business for more than 20 years. Randy Tunks, who has owned the 58-year-old florist business for the past 22 years, is also happy with the new spot. Tunks indicates: “We’ve kept the clients we had before and we’ve added new business partly because now we have much more parking and it’s more convenient for people to drop in.” The flower shop’s new space was previously occupied by Pete’s Pipes (which moved last year to 11962 Tecumseh Road East). For further details on these businesses, visit: FlowersByPhilSadi.com; TecumsehGold.com and: PetesPipeShop.com.

Petretta Construction Inc. is playing a major role in the booming local residential building sector with at least nine projects in different phases of development with more than 500 units. “I don’t remember it ever being this busy for us,” comments Jonathon Lot, Petretta’s VicePresident of Operations. “We anticipate it staying this way or getting even busier here and down the highway towards London and the GTA.” Locally, Petretta expects to break ground in May on a six-storey 54-unit condominium on the site of the old Sunnyside Tavern in LaSalle and in June on a five-storey 43 unit condo on Wyandotte Street East between St. Mary’s and Homedale Boulevards. The company just finished the first phase at The Crossings at Heritage in LaSalle with a second and third phrase soon to follow. They’re also working on a 60 unit Harbour Club condo in Tecumseh and a 30 unit condo at 140 Main Street in Kingsville. Petretta is also preparing to build a pair of four-storey apartment buildings in Lucan and a sevenstorey apartment building in Woodstock. “Commercially, now that pandemic restrictions are over, we’re working with franchisees to build four new Planet Fitness clubs across Canada,” explains Lot, adding that Petretta is the exclusive contractor for the fitness club chain. In addition, Petretta is in the running along with other contractors for a group of five condo buildings planned for various locations in Windsor. For more information, refer to: PetCon.net.

Martene Sementilli and her mother, Lorene Clayton, have taken over the LaSalle franchise of Oxford Learning, a company that has been providing supplemental education opportunities for students in JK to Grade 12, since 1984. “The opportunity presented itself in late December and with only eight days to get ready, we took over on January 1,” Sementilli informs Biz X. “We’ve managed to build an incredibly passionate and skilled team with the help of Tracey Warren, our Education Director.” Sementilli, who has a degree in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in analytics, says that Oxford tutors teach learning strategies that empower students to become independent learners and also teach students to understand their own unique learning styles and adapt them to school settings. “Each student we enroll begins with a dynamic assessment, which allows us to build a custom curriculum, which addresses a student’s academic gaps and helps our teachers deliver a program that best suits each student’s unique learning style,” she states. Oxford’s LaSalle school is currently registering students for weekly Brain-Boosting summer camps for students in grades one through eight, focusing on coding, chess, Zoology studies, performing arts and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math). The business also offers tutoring in math, English, French, science, English as a second language, and provides instruction for children with learning disabilities and those preparing for SAT, SSAT and ACT tests. The LaSalle franchise is located in the Town Centre Plaza, Unit 24A at 5844 Malden Road. For more information, view the website: OxfordLearning.com/locations/lasalletutoring.