After losing the Sugar Bowl ice cream parlor, St. Johns entrepreneur Jim Ortman and his wife, Cindy, opened Cindy’s Ice Cream and Treats.
The 500 square foot ice cream shop is in a renovated bank at 207 Spring St. The bank was empty for 10 years before the Ortmans took on the project.
“It was an eyesore,” Ortman says. “There were holes in the bulletproof windows and the landscape was overgrown.”
They renovated the entire building as well as the drive-up portion of the bank, which adds at least another 3,000 square feet to Cindy’s Ice Cream and Treats.
“We came up with the idea that, in the back of the parking lot, we could create a place for families to gather,” Ortman says. “It’s a safe place. We wanted to take the 1950s and 1960s theme and make it fun.”
The renovation was completed in April 2008. Cindy’s Ice Cream and Treats is open seasonally, April through October.
Source: Jim Ortman, Ortman Photography
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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