Iconic restaurant site sold: Lifco Hydraulics buys 1849 GI Blvd.

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing writer

For most of the years between 1955 and 2024, the parcel at 1849 Grand Island Blvd., housed a series of restaurants. But that has changed. The familiar white building is gone. The new owner recently had the building demolished and intends to put the property to new use.

Per propertyrec.com, Lifco Hydraulics purchased the site on Feb. 14 for $375,000 from GI Boulevard Properties LLC. Lifco already owned sizable acreage next door at 1865 Grand Island Blvd., where it rehabilitated an existing warehouse.

GI Boulevard Properties LLC purchased 1849 Grand Island Blvd. for $189,000 on Nov 18, 2021, from McMahon’s Family Restaurant, which owned it from 2007-18.

The property is described as being 1.34 acres of prime central business district land. The building that was razed was 1,898 square feet.

Building had long history

The newly purchased site was most recently home to a Mexican restaurant, Taquito Lindo. Before that, it was the Viking Diner, McMahon’s Family Restaurant, The Islander, Helf’s, and – going way back to its origins in the 1950s – it began as the beloved Clown House eatery.

Lifco President Fraser Berkhout is keeping the company’s options open at 1849 Grand Island Blvd. He said the purchase gives his company the potential for development that meets community needs.

New owner cites strategic purchase

“It’s a strategic purpose, based on the way that the two lots” are joined, Berkhout said. “One lot has a very narrow entrance, so the purchase was a very strategic one.”

“But I’m looking forward to developing it, likely in some mixed use/commercial and residential capacity, but that’s not set in stone yet,” he said.

“I just think it’s such a great location, in that now there’s starting to be sidewalks down along Grand Island Boulevard, going right to things like the bank and the grocery store; so, it could be a great location,” Berkhout said. “That building, though, had to be removed. It was constructed to last about 30 years, and it looked like it was about 70 years in.”

A photo of the Clown House restaurant, which operated in the 1950s and ‘60s, and was the first of many eateries at 1849 Grand Island Blvd. (Photo credit: Isledegrande.com)

This iconic lighthouse was out front of McMahon’s Family Restaurant in 2015. The family ran the business from 2007-2018. (File photo)

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Recalling the past

“We get a lot of Grand Islanders that work for us, and so they are on the Grand Island Facebook page, and they were filling me in about how people were talking about the history of it,” Berkhout said.

“Some of them were actually upset that we had taken the building down – but it was the universe that decided; it was not our decision,” he said, commenting on the deterioration of the structure.

A check of Grand Island social media posts yielded comments reminiscing about the Clown House, the go-karts behind it, public shock over the demolition and speculation about what might be the next use of the property.

Islander Chris Stedman recalled working there for Tim and Frank Reidy: “I worked at the Clown House – not exactly sure if it was summer that I was 16 or 17 – I think it was when I was 17, which would be 1967.”

Stedman added, “I remember making the curly-Q fries in the back room with a device that I put a potato in and turned the handle to make the fries.”

Stedman gave some perspective to the significance of the place for Islanders: “It was a gathering spot, but not for people to just hang around. They would come in, eat and leave. I definitely remember the go-karts. The man that ran them would come in and hang out a bit. He would come in and also his son, (Steve VanDyke) came in, who was probably a teen.”

Lifco’s president cited a company track record of improving the property it has purchased on Grand Island.

Development options considered

“The warehouse is what we originally got the property for,” Berkhout continued. “It was basically a derelict warehouse. It was just in the middle of a field and it was in rough shape. So, over the span of a couple of years, we developed that, got it looking much sharper, much more functional, and also built up a berm in the back with trees on there to give more privacy to the residents behind it.

“So, that one was quite successful. We liked it so much that we decided that, when the other properties became available – they just came up on the market – we threw an offer in.”

He said the other property Lifco purchased, right next door, is 1875 Grand Island Blvd., which houses Jackson Music.

“I’ve got to get a feel from the town – what they want – and the townspeople. … We want them to become patrons of this place,” Berkhout said. “There’s still quite a bit of homework and research required (to determine what kind of development to pursue).

“It’s a building that people tried to make a go of and were unsuccessful at. Now we’re going to try something different with more investment and a better plan.”