Downtown Media acquires an after-work life

Midweek in Media, and honking horns and the trolley bell give way to the clatter of forks and the strum of acoustic-guitar strings on State Street.

Diners are drinking wine and passing seeded bread at outdoor tables. A toddler in a pink ballerina skirt draws pictures with colored chalk on the blocked-off street. Several boys wearing Crocs and helmets ride their bikes in circles.

The scene wasn't always as vibrant as it was Wednesday evening. The seat of Delaware County since 1850, Media has always attracted a strong daytime crowd of courthouse and county workers. But when they left for the day, the borough rolled up the streets.

"It would be empty," said Greg Welc, 36, a sales representative who grew up in Media. "Pretty much when the courthouse closed, the town closed."

Now the borough of about 5,400 draws an average of 1,000 diners a night, and more during concerts and events, said Zubair Khan, executive director of the Media Business Authority. The number of restaurants in town has at least doubled and possibly tripled in the last 20 years, according to current and former borough officials.

At least nine restaurants have opened on State Street since 2000, Borough Council President Peter Alyanakian said. Other restaurants have moved in along side streets, and high-end boutique stores now fill downtown.

"We're very proud," said Joan Hagan, who, beginning in 1981, served on the Borough Council for 21 years. "It was good government. It was good people. It was good placement. Now people are very content to come to Media because they can find a quality restaurant. Before, they felt they had to go into the city."

Media officials, business owners, and philanthropists worked hard to reshape downtown, but external forces helped, too. The construction of the Blue Route made getting in and out of Media easier, and malls on either side of the borough that once drew business away from downtown in the 1980s lost their appeal for many shoppers.

Stores closed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but some businesses stubbornly held on. D'Ignazio's Towne House Bar & Restaurant on Veterans Square just off State Street, for example, has been open for 60 years.

The Media Theatre for the Performing Arts underwent a $1.5 million renovation in 1993, courtesy of real estate mogul Walter Strine Sr., who had bought the building years earlier. The spruced-up theater, on State Street near Monroe Street, reopened in 1994.

Meanwhile, Media officials began seeking new tenants. They persuaded Iron Hill Brewery and the New Orleans Cafe to came to State Street in 2000.

Two blocks west, near Olive Street, Anthony Bellapigna gave in to Mayor Robert McMahon's overtures to open Fellini's Cafe Trattoria on State Street.

"I was scared to death at first because most of the shops and stores were boarded up," Bellapigna said. "But the town had such charm. I wasn't even open yet and people were stopping by to say hello or help out."

Matching state funding helped borough officials replace streetlights and freshen up downtown.

More restaurants came, and in 2004 the borough gained a foot-traffic coup when Trader Joe's, a specialty grocery store, opened in a National Guard armory that the borough had bought from the state.

Not everything is golden in Media. The lumbering economy has taken a toll: Brodeur's, a restaurant that replaced the New Orleans Cafe in the former Borough Hall building, closed in November. The owner still owes Media about $80,000 in rent, Alyanakian said. The empty restaurant sits in a key location, and borough officials are eager to fill it.

While the evening crowds are larger, there's plenty of room to grow, McMahon said.

"It's making sure we don't rest, because the economy is changing, and we have to be able to change with it," he said.

For the last three summers, on Wednesdays the borough has closed State Street from Jackson to Orange so restaurants can set tables outside and people can wander around downtown without traffic. The hope was to draw people for an evening, and romance them to return.

For Lee Baldwin, 47, of Ardmore, the trick seems to have worked.

"It's lovely," Baldwin said as she drank a glass of Malbec at La Belle Epoque. "There was nothing to do in downtown Media. It's completely different. I never remembered it being like this at all."