Chong Ball, the new owner of the Cascade Square storefronts at 8th and Killingsworth, contacted the King Neighborhood Association recently to introduce herself, solicit neighbor concerns, and assure that under her ownership the strip will be much improved. She detailed the investments she is making in the building such as addressing maintenance items that had been deferred for many years, upgrading the electrical systems, adding security cameras and removing bars from the windows in favor of roll down security doors to be used at night. There will be new lighting and signage.

Cascade Square was the former location of the infamous Boston Market corner store which Ms. Ball said she evicted for non-payment of rent. She is opening her own store, the INA Market in the former Boston Market space. She explained that she has run a successful market in the SW suburbs and has recently sold that business to invest in NE. A few years ago she would not have purchased there, she said, but now the area appears to her to have potential. That potential is also apparent to Rodney Muirhead who moved his popular Podnah’s Pit restaurant to a large space just eight blocks east.