Construction workers work outside of Panera Bread, which is predicted to open in about a month.
Despite February’s ice and snow, the new Station 74 apartments will open on time, but Panera Bread will not.
The set completion date for Station 74 is still July 15, but Panera many not open until May 1 – a week after the original April 22 deadline.
Trey Long, one of the four managers of the new Panera Bread, noticed the setbacks the winter storms brought to Panera.
“Because of all the snow and ice, we are definitely a week behind,” Long said.
Long believes the completion date could be pushed back to May 1 because of slowed progress.
The new Panera Bread will include the cafe and bakery, and will also cater events.
As of right now, different businesses around Murray call in catering at Paducah’s Panera, which is then driven all the way to Murray.
“The new Panera Bread is hiring for all positions,” Long said.
Applications can be found online.
Carlton Stroud, superintendent to the general contractor for Station 74, and his team worked through some of the bad weather.
Stroud said 80 percent of the asphalt was finished for Station 74 in November, which helped the completion date remain the same.
Although the asphalt took abuse from the freezing weather, he said it was well worth the time to get it finished and set so that the team could work through the winter.
He said the construction workers continued their work after taking days off due to the snow and ice. They took overtime and are dedicated to the deadline and will keep pushing until everything is back on track.
Station 74 didn’t experience any physical setbacks besides losing a couple days of work.
The only financial setbacks are paying the construction team for the weekends of overtime required in order to finish on time.
The Preiss Company, a management firm, sent in Chelsey Gilbert from North Carolina to manage the new Station 74.
“Honestly, our construction team is really hard working and the construction workers catch right back up with anything that they may get behind on,” Gilbert said.
With rooms beginning to fill up as the semester winds down, Gilbert isn’t worried about students moving in on the expected August 14 date.
At Station 74, a two bedroom apartment costs $630, while a four bedroom apartment costs $499. This price includes all utilities, a pet friendly environment, stainless steel appliances, a 24 hour fitness area, lounge areas, and pool access among other things.
“I haven’t missed a completion day my whole career and I don’t plan on making this my first,” Stroud said.
Story by Julia Mazzuca, Staff writer