NOTE: After reading, please leave your comments in the space provided at the end of this article.

CENTRE — Last week, crews were hard at work converting the former Starr's Real Pit into a new, sports-themed restaurant whose name may be familiar to many Cherokee County residents.

The Gridiron, a Gadsden-based bar and grill specializing in spicy wings and handmade hamburgers, will be opening in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot as soon as the proprietor can get the ovens up and running.

“We're hoping to open up January 1, but we may actually be open sooner,” owner Jeremy Reeves told The Post last week. “It may be that I'm ready to go before Christmas, but I'm shooting for the first of the year.”

Reeves and real estate agent Tony O'Neal, who works with Hincy Realty, completed the purchase Tuesday afternoon. A double-sided banner emblazoned with the words “Coming Soon!” was already up in front of the location Wednesday morning. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

The building on West Main Street has been vacant for several months. Previous owner Lanny Starr opened a new restaurant in the former Hardee's location earlier this year.

Reeves, who hails from Gadsden, said he opened his first wings eatery in his hometown six years ago after moving back from Tuscaloosa.

“Whenever we'd all go out to eat in Tuscaloosa, we'd got to a wing place,” Reeves said. “And at the time there was nothing like that in Gadsden, so I opened the Gridiron.”

Wings are definitely the specialty at the Gridiron, which features a variety of homemade sauces and original flavors. But Reeves is also proud of the hand-formed hamburger patties he serves his customers.

“We're known for our burgers. They're always fresh, never frozen or pre-packaged,” he said. “Pretty much everything we do is fresh. Our menu will also offer a wide variety of salads and sandwiches, too.”

Reeves said Centre's Nov. 2 wet-dry referendum, when 55 percent of residents approved the sale of alcohol inside the city limits, was only one of several determining factors in his decision to expand into Cherokee County.

“I think there are more opportunities for everyone in Centre now, more tax dollars,” he said. “I think being wet will help the growth of Centre and I want to be a part of that.”

Reeves said he felt he owed it to his many loyal customers from this area not to have to drive so far to enjoy all the things the Gridiron has to offer.

“I have a lot of friends in Centre, and a lot of regulars, and that's a big part of the reason I chose to come here,” he said. “I probably have 20-30 from here who drive to Gadsden every week. I feel that I owe it to them to bring the Gridiron here to them.”

Reeves said he believes the people who patronize his new Centre location will like what they find inside.

“It will look very similar in here, but it's also going to look totally different when people walk in,” he said. “We're going to have around 20 50-inch plasma TVs, and the walls will be covered in sports memorabilia.”

Reeves said he plans to continue the tradition of the previous owner by making the rear meeting room available for corporate parties and community events. And there's at last one Gridiron tradition from Gadsden that Reeves plans to bring to Centre: musical entertainment on the weekends.

“We will be putting in a patio on the [west] side of the building, and we're waiting to see how the ordinance is going to be written because we may need to put a privacy fence out there,” he said. “Whatever the rules are we will abide by them, and we'll do live music.”

Reeves said he's already got crews working on the kitchen equipment, and he plans to use local companies for all interior and exterior renovations. Reeves said when the time comes to staff the new Gridiron, he wants to focus on hiring from the immediate area.

“Probably around the first of December, we'll begin taking applications for all available positions,” Reeves said. “We'll run an ad in the paper announcing when applications can be turned in. We will be hiring local employees.”

Attempts to reach Centre Mayor Tony Wilkie for an update on the status of the city's new alcohol ordinance were unsuccessful.