Roundup: Tasty plans for Carmel’s Main Street, plus doughnuts and more

A vacant Main Street storefront in Carmel’s Arts & Design District is set to be transformed into the tasting room for Napa Valley winery with local ties.

Peace Water Winery Tasting Room is the brainchild of Noblesville resident Scott Burton, who came up with the idea while visiting California wine country with his wife.

Burton experimented with retirement after selling an unrelated business, he told the Carmel Plan Commission last month, then found a new calling in Napa. Peace Water will make and bottle its wine in California, and ship the finished product to Carmel.

The startup winery will operate on a “philanthropy-based model,” he told commissioners, donating profits to local and international charities. Its tag line: One bottle does a world of good.

Peace Water’s Carmel tasting room will be located at 37 W. Main St., in space that once housed a boutique called Chaos.

The Carmel Redevelopment Commission acquired the building in 2009 for about $400,000 and planned to redevelop the site. But this summer, it traded the property for a surface parking lot south of Main Street near Range Line Road.

Burton said he is in the process of buying the building and plans to improve access from the rear parking lot, which CRC controls.

“I’d love to do something much more extensive back there,” he said, mentioning the possibility of outdoor seating.

Peace Water also will have café tables set up on the sidewalk out front, he said.

The Plan Commission approved Burton’s plans for façade improvements and exterior signage in March.

Commissioner Brad Grabow called the project “a great addition to this block of Main Street, which it sorely needs.”

In other area retail news:

— The owner of Thai Orchid restaurant is planning a Carmel outpost at 110 W. Main St., Suite 140. Pad Thai will occupy about 1,200 square feet of ground-floor space overlooking Second Avenue. Parking is available in Sophia Square’s underground parking garage.

— New Castle favorite Jack’s Donuts likewise is adding a location in Carmel, remodeling space at 516 E. Carmel Drive, near AAA Way. Jack’s also peddles its sweet treats at a shop on 131st Street in Fishers’ Saxony neighborhood.

— Construction continues at Fishers Marketplace, a mixed-use project at 131st Street and State Road 37 anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Among the projects in the works: a 4,700-square-foot building for Bagger Dave’s Legendary Burger Tavern and a 3,200-square-foot Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen.

— Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt is taking space in the multi-tenant building that replaced a stand-alone Pizza Hut on Allisonville Road in Fishers earlier this year. The pizza purveyor still offers carry-out and delivery service there. Other tenants include Verizon Wireless.

— Hot Box Pizza, meanwhile, is opening an outlet in a strip center at 14300 Mundy Drive in Noblesville.

— Perkins Restaurant & Bakery is planning a location near Hamilton Town Center at Interstate 69 and Campus Parkway. The 4,800-square-foot chain restaurant will be located at 13316 Tegler Drive.

— Kid-centric chains Dairy Queen and McDonald’s are setting up shop near the southern entrance to Westfield’s new youth-oriented Grand Park Sports Campus. Dairy Queen is planning a 5,000-square-foot building at 940 Tournament Trail—off State Road 32 just east of Wheeler Road—McDonald’s is working on 4,600 square feet at 945 Tournament Trail.