"He has to have those corners," said Phillip Horwitz, owner of Reliable Loan & Jewelry. "That makes this whole project."

Horwitz should know -- he was instrumental in making the deal happen. He and partners agreed to sell developer Gregg Sandreuter two of the corner properties.

Horwitz will swap a third for an Edison storefront.

Horwitz bought Reliable 32 years ago, when there were "feed stores and hardware stores, pots-and-pan stores, everything down there."

Clyde Cooper's Barbecue was there, too. The restaurant, which has been working out of the same 88-year-old building since 1938, worked out a similar swap.

"It'll be nice to get in a new building and get out of that old one," said Cooper's owner Tony Moore. "It's been tough working with that old building and some of the antiquated plumbing, heating and electrical."

The old building is part of what gives Cooper's its character. But Moore isn't worried about losing a faithful clientele.

"It'll be a change but over the long haul," Moore said. "But it'll be better."

Still gonna have pork rinds?

"Yup," Moore said.

'Cue and slaw?

"Yup."

Just a new building?

"That's it."