Meyer's Castle owner to expand business

DYER | The owner of Meyer's Castle plans to open a new seasonal business to the U.S. 30 corridor.

Sergio Urquiza plans to open an outdoor, fruit and vegetable business directly west of the castle once site improvements are complete, Brent Torrenga, project engineer, told the Plan Commission.

The stand will be on the north side of property Urquiza owns, on the south side of U.S. 30, and the existing U.S. 30 curb cut will be expanded into a paved, two-lane service road directly west of the produce stand.

The business itself will be housed under a tent, and directly north of it will be will be a paved, 32-space parking area, Torrenga said. Shoppers would access the business and parking via the access road, and the road itself will continue south until it ends at Catherine Drive.

As part of the same project, Urquiza will connect an existing gravel parking area lot at the southwest side of his property, directly west of the castle, with Catherine Drive. The connection will be a private, paved road that ends at the parking area. That parking area also will be paved. Its east side already connects to an existing private road that runs through the castle property.

The site plan also calls for two retention areas to contain stormwater runoff. The project is still in the review phase and plan commissioners had questions during the meeting, mostly concerning traffic issues. The Police and Fire departments, for example, have requested that the access road running south from U.S. 30 be one-way, and entrance-only, meaning that customers would have to exit the parcel via either Catherine Drive or the Meyer's Castle road.

Meyer's Castle was built circa 1930 by Joseph E. Meyer and is a local example of Jacobean Revival Architecture. It is home to Rodizio's, an Argentinian steakhouse, a swan pond, garden and waterfall, as well as a flock of emus and peacocks.