Westwood developers have big plans for 2023

The owners behind the upscale Ivory House restaurant in Westwood are planning to convert a funeral home about a block away into a new dining concept.

The proposal, by Frank Eversole and Rick Pouliot, owners of EP Investments, would convert  two 1920s-era funeral home structures, the former Bolton & Lunsford Funeral Home, into two restaurants. One will be a mid-priced Italian dining restaurant named Terrazza Trattoria, occupying the north building, the other will be an affordable Mexican grill-style restaurant and bar named Paloma’s, in the south building.

The dining complex, at 3042 Harrison Avenue, is directly across the street from Westwood’s historic Town Hall. It’s expected to open in spring 2023. An extensive renovation of the existing buildings and lots of landscaping need to be completed.

“We intend to retain the existing structures of the former Bolton & Lunsford Funeral Home to bring two new local restaurant concepts to Westwood’s front door,” says Frank Eversole, co-owner of EP Investment Group.

EP Investments will work with the Westwood Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. (WestCURC), Westwood’s non-profit community development corporation. WestCURC was assisted by the City of Cincinnati’s Department of Community and Economic Development and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority in securing the property for development.

Ivory House, a block to the east on Harrison, opened in July 2020 by Eversole and Pouliot, Westwood residents and long-time investors in the neighborhood, having completed dozens of residential development projects there. Ivory House is located in an ’80s-era building that had once been a Huntington Bank branch.

The Bolton & Lunsford Funeral Home traces its origins to 1938 when Wain A. Bolton opened the Bolton Funeral Home at 3042 Harrison. He was joined by his son-in-law James Lunsford in 1962. The last viewing held in the facility was in early 2020.