It’s been just over a year since the devastating fire at Cafe Mimosa / Eggroll Machine on Bardstown Road. Now, Coco Tran of the Zen Garden Restaurant on Frankfort Avenue has taken over the property and plans are in the works to salvage what’s left of the charred restaurant and build bigger and better. Plans call for rebuilding a restaurant space on the ground floor and adding a second level apartment.
The fire destroyed everything but three walls which were left in good structural condition and will be reused. Everything else is new. Jeff Rawlins of Architectural Artisans says the existing footprint will be maintained and parking at the back of the parcel will remain unchanged. The new structure will have a much updated look.
Defining the exterior will be a butterfly roof, an inverted form of roof with the low point in the middle. Rawlins said the new design will be “edgier” than what’s normally seen on Bardstown Road. Plans call for the sidewalk level to be lined with glass doors that can be opened in fair weather.
The 4,000 square foot first floor will remain a restaurant space and negotiations are underway with a possible tenant. No plans are able to be released yet, however. Work could proceed quickly, however, and renovation could move seamlessly from shelled space to restaurant fit up.
On the second floor, a 1,200 to 1,400 square foot two-bedroom apartment is planned. The second floor will also feature a butterfly roof and will be set back to match surrounding buildings: a house and an animal clinic. The project has already been approved by the Bardstown Road Overlay District in early December 2009, but we don’t know a firm construction date. Regardless, it will be nice to see one more missing tooth on Bardstown Road filled in.
I think this looks fabulous!!
Rawlins = The Man.
What remains of Cafe Mimosa is anything but structurally sound. I work at the animal hospital next door and there have actually been walls crumbling over on the animal hospital’s property. In one instance, 30 plus bricks feel over into a walkway we walk on to get the backyard. At anytime of day employees use that walkway to take dogs outside to use the bathroom. The bricks that fell could have killed someone or an animal. We were lucky nobody was walking on the walkway when the bricks fell.
Glad no one was injured, Becca. Hopefully work will get started soon and the wall will be stabilized to no bricks fall in the future.
As always, Jeff’s vision will help define the way we use challenging sites. Awesome
The animal hospital was recently renovated, with a new entrance. So with this (mostly) new building, the spot will look very up-to-date.