Tikka Shack – Historic Building Restoration

Restaurants can be challenging. Historic sites even moreso. There’s a lot of coordination that goes into building a restaurant. The mechanicals, the electrical, the plumbing, utilities—you have to coordinate all of that with the kitchen appliances and make sure everything fits.

Add to that a historic structure and you have a challenging situation, with any number of potential complications you have to deal with.

Tikka Shack Indian Grub restaurant in Hershey, PA originally was a three-story apartment building with a structural firewall through the center. The owner wanted to demolish the building and start anew with a new concept.

However, the Derry Township Downtown Core Design Board had other ideas. Citing the building’s historic character, the board denied the demolition request.

Retooling the Concept

We had done many restaurant projects with this owner, and he knew this project was going to be a challenge because of the structural nature of the building, the close proximity of the public and the existing amenities that are around the property.

He knew that our expertise was of the level that no matter what we ran into, we could always figure out a solution and a plan forward. As a result, the owner enlisted EGStoltzfus for this historic building restoration.

With the help of Hershey architect ThYNK design, we worked with the owner, Jeff Roth of Roth Hospitality, to retool the plans and gain the approval of the Downtown Core Design Board. ThYNK also had some challenges in meeting the Downtown Districts requirements for look and colour, which they masterfully incorporated into the final design.

Early in the process, our demolition revealed a site condition that was not what was expected. As originally designed, we were going to demolish the entire inside of the building so that the only thing left standing was a masonry structure and a roof.

Unfortunately, we discovered that the masonry structure was not strong enough to stand by itself.

As a result, our bulk demolition process turned into a surgical demolition and reconstruction process, both of which happened at the same time. The engineer had to come out multiple times to verify that everything would work.

Many times, all the components come together at the very end, very fast-paced and so everything has to be coordinated exactly and fit exactly in order to meet all the schedules and be able to open the restaurant in time. This one was no exception.

The Challenges of Adaptive Reuse

Adapting an aging structure for the 21st century can be difficult, with any number of challenges and frustrations. But with over 30 years of experience in adaptive reuse, we have found that a historic building can be full of hidden treasures, just waiting to be discovered. Or rediscovered.

To learn more about this historic building restoration, read our Tikka Shack project profile.

From smaller-scale remodeling projects to complete facility renovations, EGStoltzfus Commercial Construction has a passion for creating human spaces. Places for people to live and work that allow your enterprise to grow into what you envision, yet still offer a return on your investment of time, money, and risk. But more importantly, spaces that embody your purpose. That build companies. Enhance lives. Create communities. EGStoltzfus. BUILDING ONE STORY AT A TIME.