After two years of planning, construction is scheduled to begin on a on a restaurant in downtown Winston-Salem named after former Demon Deacon and current forward for the San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan, '97.

But the restaurant will play more to Duncan's Caribbean heritage, he hails from the U.S. Virgin Islands, than his basketball expertise. According to Lou Baldwin, a Winston-Salem downtown developer and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce subcommittee on local issues, construction on Tim Duncan's Island Sports Café is scheduled to begin next year. The restaurant is scheduled to open by May 1.

The restaurant will be located in a new building at 1 W. 4th St., directly across from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company headquarters. This location was chosen because it had many promising aspects. It is a brand new building and is a "good space for a restaurant" said Baldwin.

Also, there is an attached parking garage that is well lit and monitored 24 hours a day by security. Equally significant is the 4th Street setting. "It was important to us to be downtown" Baldwin said.

As is suggested by the name, the restaurant has an "island flair" said Jim Lambie, a co-chairperson for downtown development. The décor and the menu will have an island theme. "There is going to be Caribbean cuisine, but that's not all," Baldwin said. "You can have a steak."

"We don't really consider this to be a sports bar," Baldwin said. He emphasized the fact that although it will be an entertainment venue where you can go to watch sports there will be "good, consistent, quality food."

According to Marc Scott, Duncan's business manager, Duncan has been "extremely involved in every stage of planning." Baldwin expanded on Scott's comments in saying that Duncan and his wife, Amy, have approved certain menu items. "He (Duncan) wanted to make sure that everything is going to be great" added Scott.

Early plans presented an idea that allowed the university's men's basketball coach, Skip Prosser, to do his weekly radio show from the restaurant, but those details are not definite said Lambie.

According to Lambie, construction on the project has not yet begun because the final monetary details are being worked out. The 7,000-square-foot restaurant has an approximately .5 million start up cost. Twenty thousand of the needed .5 million came from the city as part of a loan, negotiated by Baldwin.

Sophomore Caroline Boyd said she'd probably eat at Duncan's theme restaurant. "I think that it'd be a fun place to eat" Boyd said. She said that it would be a "contrast to the other restaurants in Winston frequented by Wake students."

The fact that the restaurant is associated with a university alumnus seems to give some students more incentive to patronize it. Freshman Margaret Ashey said that she "always likes to support alumni" while Boyd said that "The fact that it is owned by a celebrity alumnus would make it an even more fun place to eat."

The original plans were for the restaurant to be located in the Nissen Building, located at 4th and Cherry Streets in downtown Winston-Salem.

These plans were changed because plans for the new restaurant were farther along than those for the Nissen Building, Lambie said.

Kent Smith, manager of the Cat's Corner Café, a restaurant on 4th Street, said that the new restaurant is good and that he is not worried about competition for business. "We're glad it's coming. It should bring more business downtown," he said.

The idea for the restaurant was conceived two years ago by John Elkington, a redevelopment consultant, who presented the idea to Duncan.

Scott said that although owning a restaurant was never a goal of Duncan's, when the idea was presented by Elkington and the other developers Duncan "felt that it was a quality company" and a worthwhile investment. The company that owns the restaurant is a partnership comprised of numerous associates. They include equity investors, the Celebrity Kitchen company, Baldwin, and, of course, Duncan.