Owners excited about moving to Benchwarmer's site. 

HEIDI PRESCOTT, Tribune Staff Writer, May 31, 2007

SOUTH BEND -- The size and layout of the building are ideal, and Shirley Witmer said the location right in the heart of South Bend with pedestrian traffic is excellent.

But the windows sold her on the vacant storefront on South Michigan Street that formerly held Benchwarmer's. They're nothing fancy. And they're nothing unusual or unbelievably interesting. But then again, her business doesn't have windows now, so they seem like a huge luxury.

"The windows out front are really great. Really great. Now of course the ambiance at the 100 Center can't be duplicated with the old brick and wood," said Witmer, who owns Rum Runners dueling piano bar at the 100 Center in Mishawaka. "But it's dark," she added, "it's really dark, and here we are trying to create a tropical sunshine atmosphere. That's been hard to do."

Rum Runners plans to close temporarily in late June at the former Icehouse Restaurant in the 100 Center, and reopen in early August in South Bend.

The Witmers started talking about moving last year, realizing their lease would be up for renewal this summer. It would be the right time to move, they knew. Downtown Mishawaka had not become the destination they had hoped it would in the last five years. Plans are in place, they realize, but city efforts are taking time. "It was a good place to start out, but we have done all we can do there. Most of our locations are in a downtown or in a resort with walk-by traffic," Witmer said of the seven-location Rum Runners chain that is based in Raleigh, N.C.

They looked in Mishawaka. They scouted around Niles. But they always returned to South Bend. "We wanted to be downtown. It's going to be a great corner, toward the end of the strip there. We're going to create an outside patio and serve lunch from 11 to 2 or 3, and then reopen at night."

The Witmers are ready to start an extensive renovation. They will add two platforms and a stage for the dueling pianos, build surrounding stadium seating, and add lots of tables and chairs. They also lined up a painter to complete a tropical scene on a huge interior wall. The piano bar will open at 5 p.m. and close at 2 a.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

Downtown has been developing during the past five years into a destination, James Auerbach, vice president of Rum Runners USA, said. And now, he said, it was clearly the place to relocate the venue.

"We saw the move of the Mishawaka franchise to downtown South Bend as extremely positive," Auerbach said, "for a variety of reasons. Just the incredible traffic flow, compared to where they were. Thousands of people work around them all the time. They can expand on the successful operation they were already doing. A lot has happened in downtown South Bend," he said. "We saw it as a growing city and we wanted to be a part of that."

South Bend officials believe Rum Runners will add something new to the city's center. "This is the kind of thing we like to see -- the entertainment corridor developing. It's now three blocks long and this is a very complimentary use to the dynamic we're trying to create," said Jennifer Laurent, a South Bend city economic development planner. "This is a type of entertainment we don't have here: You become part of the act and sing along," she said. "This is the right thing for that space."