Mille's to expand business

The downtown lunch crowd's palates might soon be tempted with the likes of unagi and California rolls if Mille's owner David Bauer can pull together his plan to open a sushi bar next door to Mille's.

Gelven's Flower Shop recently moved from the 1,500-square-foot space it had occupied at 309 S. Jefferson since the '60s to a new location at 1925-C E. Bennett to make way for Bauer to expand his business. The building behind Mille's also is being renovated for use as a banquet facility. Bauer purchased the Mille's building when he opened the restaurant about a year ago.

"We're going to be using that space next door, which will seat about 80, during the month of December for Christmas parties. Then in mid-January, we're going to shut down and do a little remodeling and look at the possibility of putting a sushi bar in," Bauer said.

He said the sushi bar would be a separate establishment but would share some back-of-the-house operations with Mille's, and he will only open it if he can find the right people to operate it. Bauer said he already has a couple of names in mind for the sushi bar.

"If I can't pull it off right, I'll wait until the right time, and that room would serve as an expansion in the meantime," Bauer said. "The sushi bar would take about five people to operate it three good sushi chefs and a couple of wait staff. The main thing I need is a good sushi chef that's going to be personable and outgoing."

Bauer said the 3,000-square-foot building behind Mille's also is being remodeled for use as a private banquet facility. It will seat about 150, and work will be finished on it by February, Bauer said.

"We're just trying to keep the momentum going downtown ... one of the main reasons we purchased this property was to use it for special events, banquets and wedding receptions."

He said parking continues to be an issue for the restaurant, especially during the lunch hour.

"I'm looking at a deal with SMS to have them validate parking at some of the nearby lots ... for parking for my customers," Bauer said.

Bauer, who also owns Coyote's Adobe Caf? at Glenstone and Sunshine, is acting as his own general contractor on both projects. He said the construction costs for the two projects total about $360,000, with about $325,000 going toward the banquet facility. When both projects are finished, Bauer said, his investment in downtown will approach $1 million.

"It's a big investment ... I bought this building pretty inexpensively, and I've put a lot of money into it. We're going to have about $800,000 invested in this before we're done with it," Bauer said.

He said the banquet facility will add about 10 employees to Mille's staff of 35. The facility will consist of one large room with its own kitchen, restrooms and bar.

Chesterfield Village's Tom Arthur's, which has operated since 1995, also is expanding. Owner Tom Grasseschi hopes to finish work on the approximately 1,000-square-foot addition by Nov. 15. The space will contain a full bar and will double the seating capacity for the restaurant.

"At peak hours, we're so busy that I think larger parties shy away from coming out here. One of the things we're doing in the new section is putting in larger booths, which will accommodate the larger parties, and we'll also have more tables to put together for really large parties," Grasseschi said.[[In-content Ad]]