Moving day surprise: Deal falls through for Bike Windsor-Essex to move into restaurant

Moving day for Bike Windsor-Essex did not go as planned.

Volunteers came out to the Capitol Theatre on Saturday morning, expecting to push the bikes a few blocks away to the Snack Bar-B-Q location on Chatham St. E.

Instead, they wound up loading everything on to a U-Haul.

It will be kept in storage for now, while the group seeks a different new home.

• Bike Windsor Essex evicted from downtown location

• Bike Windsor Essex's new home will be Snack Bar-B-Q on Chatham Street

The family of late restaurant owner Mark Boscariol notified executive director Lori Newton Friday afternoon that the offer was no longer good.

"I'm afraid that with everything that's happened, the family is really having to deal with Mark's estate, and things went sort of sideways," Newton explained.

"We had a Plan B, and we're going tobe moving into storage in someone's basement on Drouillard Road, and hopefully that will only be a short-term situation."

Newton said the group will spend the next month regrouping, trying to find another location. However, she's not sure it will be downtown.

"Downtown's proven to be a challenge for us, so this time, we really have to keep our options open and see what the best thing is for the organization."

Newton says it will be a loss for the community not to have the bike kitchen service available. She said 20 to 30 people were still coming in each day this past week, while they were packing to prepare for the move.

The bicycling group learned in June that it was being evicted from the space it occupied at the Capitol Theatre. The decision was made by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.

• Windsor Symphony Orchestra reveals reasons behind sudden eviction of Bike Windsor Essex
• Windsor entrepreneur MarkBoscariolhas died

A month later, Boscariolstepped forward and offered to rent the Chatham St. E. location to Bike-Windsor-Essex. He planned to move Snack Bar-B-Q to another building he owned on Ouellette Avenue.

Boscariol died suddenly on July 26, at age 51.