Buerge, friends to open downtown restaurant

Aaron Buerge, better known nationally as "The Bachelor," and three friends are preparing to open Trolley's Downtown Bar and Grille on the square in what was a police substation. The restaurant is scheduled to open in December.

Buerge, senior vice president at First National Bank, Bill Dreiling, owner of the James River Grill, Rich Branham, a sales engineer at Trane, and Steve Warlick, an architect at Bates and Associates, have formed Trolley's LLC. The restaurant is at 107 Park Central Square.

Warlick, Branham and John Steward, a St. Louis attorney, own the building as Design Build LLC. They purchased the building in 1999. Design Build LLC is leasing the restaurant space to Trolley's.

"I've always been interested in real estate development," Warlick said. "Also, we got the building at a very good price and felt pretty confident that the Jordan Valley Park, which was going to be built nearby, was going to materialize."

After purchasing the building, Design Build turned the second and third floors into four loft apartments. They hired local subcontractors but did a lot of the sweat equity themselves.

"Lofts are a good investment and a way to hang on to the romantic side of architecture by creating interesting spaces," Warlick said. The lofts were completed in 2000.

Warlick used his architecture expertise to design the restaurant and to create three-dimensional art for the walls.

"I wanted to take a cityscape that could be seen in downtown Springfield and scale it down to a 14 foot wall," he said. "I wanted our patrons to have a sense of being outside with the comfort of a controlled atmosphere. It is a visually stimulating space as people seem to have a general fascination with buildings and downtowns in general."

In the dining area, a faux finish on the concrete floor is made to look like a brick street with sidewalks.

Buerge said they named the restaurant Trolley's because trolley's "are the definition of the 1920s and 1930s, in Chicago. The interior of the restaurant looks like you're sitting on a brick paved road, in Chicago, during that time."

Two 105-inch projection screens and a dozen 27-inch televisions will be available on the east end of the restaurant, while diners on the west end will have a view of the fountain in Park Central Square.

The 3,700-square-foot restaurant will seat 160 inside, with patio seating for an additional 75 patrons on the west and north sides of the building.

Entrees will include smoked prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, smoked baby back ribs, porterhouse, London broil with sherry mushroom sauce, grilled marinated chicken breast and grilled shrimp. The restaurant will serve appetizers, salads, sandwiches, side dishes and desserts.

Initially, Trolley's will only be open for dinner.

"We may offer lunch beginning next spring," Dreiling said. "We'll see if there's a demand for it. It'll be easier to work everything out if we're only open for dinner to begin with."

Trolley's will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. They'll be open on Mondays during Monday Night Football season.