Proposed development expected to expand Ike and BG’s
As restaurants across Western New York work to bounce back, a Buffalo restaurant owner is proposing to expand his establishment.
If you’ve driven down Genesee Street on the city’s East Side, you’ve probably caught a whiff of ribs on the grill at Ike and BG’s Restaurant.
Steven Butler, the owner of the restaurant, said, “just serving up some of your favorite soul food dishes.”
The BBQ and soul food spot has been a staple on Buffalo’s East Side since the late 1990s.
“The Buffalo and surrounding areas have been very good to us,” Butler said.
So much so, owner Butler is taking things up a notch. He’s planning to build a three story mixed-use building where Ike and BG’s is located. The 30,000 square foot building will expand Ike and BG’s into a sit-down restaurant. The development will also house a banquet room, apartments, and retail space.
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Butler said, “that is definitely the plan to create a new home for Ike and BG’s restaurant. Well it’s always been something that I wanted to do. It’s just timing.”
For Butler the time is now and the purpose, a personal one.
“It’s very important because this is a community that Ike and BG’s was birthed in, and I think it’s essential in the Black community just to build up and be an inspiration to this community and I feel more than confident enough that we deserve to have such an establishment in the city of Buffalo, not only in the heart of the East Side of Buffalo,” said Butler.
Butler hopes to break ground in the fall with construction completed within 6 to 8 months.
