It’s almost time to make the donuts.

“It’s exciting because it’s been a long time since Bradford has had a new construction project of this magnitude,” said Bradford City Mayor Tom Riel during Friday’s groundbreaking ceremonies for a building that will contain a Dunkin’ Donuts business and six upscale apartments.

The ceremony, held at the project site on the corner of South Avenue and Chautauqua Place, was attended by city officials, contractors and developer Manish Patel, who expects work on the new $3.5 million building to start this month by local contractor Kessel Construction. He said the Dunkin’ Donuts business is expected to open in February or March and the apartments should be completed by spring.    

Riel noted the property had once contained blighted buildings in the downtown area, therefore the groundbreaking ceremony was “a great day for Bradford.”

“There were only a handful of properties (at the site) that contributed to the tax base and two were owned by John Kohler,” Mayor Tom Riel said of the now-cleared property.

Riel said he approached Kohler, a local businessman, to help rid the property of blighted buildings, which included the former Terminal Building that had been owned by Kohler.

Kohler said he was able to clear the lot of the unsightly buildings by purchasing a number of the structures through tax sales and realtors. He demolished the majority of the buildings last year.

Patel, CEO of Bapa Network LLC, said he was introduced to Bradford by a Dunkin’ Donuts team last year.

“Dunkin’ wanted to be here in Bradford and once we got approval for this area to build a (restaurant), Dunkin came to us and we started looking at the sites,” Patel said. He noted Riel had communicated with a Dunkin’ Donuts team member prior to this, thereby laying the groundwork for the project in Bradford.

“(Riel) showed me the real estate here in downtown and told me of a lot of benefits in downtown,” Patel said. “That was the first time I’d ever been to Bradford. Once we got here we understood why we needed to be here because it’s a beautiful downtown.”

Patel said he was so impressed that he approached Kohler and was able “to put a deal together” for the site project.

“Right now it’s a two-phase project … the first phase will be a two-story building (called) Terminal Plaza,” Patel said. “The first floor will have space for four tenants, and one will be Dunkin’ Donuts with a drive-through.”

He said the second floor will comprise six luxurious apartments, with four containing one bedroom, and the other two containing two bedrooms.

Patel said the second phase of the project will be the construction of a second building on the parcel, which could be a four- to five-story structure that would be used as commercial space.

Patel said all of the marketing elements for the project are at hand, including the nearby Zippo Manufacturing Co. offices, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus and Bradford Regional Medical Center.

Patel said he and his family members have been working with real estate projects the past three years and their company is based in four to five states. He said the Bradford Dunkin Donuts is expected to hire 24 or 25 full- and part-time employees.

“Right now we’re focusing on Bradford and towards Erie … these are going to be our near future projects,” Patel said of their development prospects. “Obviously, we want to be here, this is not a one-year or two-year project, we want to be here forever.”

Tim Asinger of Kessel Construction said the company will use local subcontractors and labor.

“We worked with (the Patels) on pre-construction to help them establish budgets … and we’ll be doing the total turnkey project for site development,” Asinger added.

Neil Rinard, an architect with C. J. Wallace Engineering, designers of the building, said Bradford’s Dunkin’ Donuts will represent the latest of the new restaurant designs for the company.

“One of the cool things is this is one of the new (next generation) design,” Rinard explained. “This is one of the first new Dunkins going in with the next gen design. They’ve changed the whole outside and inside of Dunkin’ and rebranded it.”

Rinard said the remainder of the building “will all blend in” with the surrounding area.