Get Herald RSSA hookah bar and a café serving up authentic gelato are among the most recent additions to the Thayer Street landscape, and they continue the street's summer trend of swift changes and rapid turnover. Several mainstay restaurants also plan to expand into nearby vacancies during the course of the fall semester.
Providence Byblos, located at 235 Meeting St., will open an enclosed hookah bar on its backyard patio in "a couple of weeks," according to general manager Salim Makhmouf. The owners, who opened the restaurant in early March, have also leased the building's previously vacant second floor and plan to turn it into a "traditional Lebanese lounge." Makhmouf, who operates the restaurant with owner and brother Georges, said he believes Brown students will be particularly enthusiastic about having a hookah bar nearby.
"A lot of students have been coming in and asking about it," Salim said.
Roba!Dolce, a café offering gelato, plans to open Friday at 178 Angell St. - the space formerly occupied by Smoothie King - according to Matt Hewitt, the company's chief operating officer.
Hewitt said the café's owners leased the space two months ago, adding that they became interested in the Thayer Street location because of "the quality of the intellect" nearby.
"One of the things that we run into a lot is people don't know what gelato is," he said. "We're finding that people in more affluent areas are more aware because they are more traveled."
Owners have redone the interior, installed a new kitchen and "brought in a bar system right from Italy that was especially made for the space," Hewitt said.
Not all of Thayer Street's evolution is because new stores are opening. Over the summer, popular late-night destination Wings To Go, located at 272 Thayer St., closed its doors. Erik Christensen, general manager at neighboring La Luna, said the eatery ceased operating over a month ago, and copies of the Providence Journal now cover the store's windows. The old owners, who could not be reached by phone, allowed their lease to run out at the end of August, prompting La Luna's owners to take over the space, Christensen said.
"We're not going to disclose what it's going to be right now," Christensen said. "It's a big secret."
The owners of Andreas Restaurant, located at 268 Thayer St., also recently took over an adjacent vacancy, expanding into the former location of Indian retail store Spectrum when that store moved in November 2004 to 252 Thayer St., which formerly housed the College Hill Bookstore.
Andreas Manager Eddy Pimental said Andy Mitrelis, the restaurant's owner, recently took over the space, though he "wasn't informed about anything" beyond that.
"We just plan on breaking down the walls and expanding," Pimental said.
Mitrelis is vacationing in Athens this week and could not be reached for comment.
Kartabar Manager Kostas Karampetsos declined to comment on what he plans to do with 280 Thayer St., formerly occupied by Phillipe's Rest-aurant, which he said closed over a year ago. "We're not trying to make any public announcement," he said.
In addition to the filling of these vacancies, several Thayer Street buildings have recently undergone renovation projects.
Construction at the Thayer Waterman LLC Building - located at 212 Thayer St. and home to a Starbucks franchise and Allegra Print & Imaging - began about two months ago. The building's owner, Ken Dulgarian, formerly leased the building's top floor to several smaller tenants, including the Brown Entrepreneurship Pro-gram, a law office, a communications firm, a hair salon, a marine conservation collaborative and a Starbucks training site. However, Dulgarian evicted all second-story tenants at the end of 2004 and has since kept quiet about his plans for the building.
Dulgarian declined to comment on the most recent renovations, saying confidentiality agreements between himself and the building's tenants prohibit him from doing so.
"The building is being renovated, and when it's done ... it'll be a coveted asset to Thayer Street," he said, adding that he expects the project to be completed "within the next couple of months."
But Ted Stein, owner of Allegra, confirmed rumors that the print and copying center plans to build a new "state-of-the-art facility" on the second floor.
"We are more than doubling our size in terms of capability and capacity," increasing from 1,800 to over 5,000 square feet of space, Stein said. In addition, Stein plans to move the store's entrance to 102 Waterman St. and install an elevator.
However, the changes will not be complete until December. "Basically, for the fall semester, it's will be business as usual here at Allegra," Stein said.
Despite some complaints from customers, the project has not significantly interfered with Starbucks' operations, said barista Tim Noble. "It's been noisy and occasionally it's been dusty, but it hasn't posed any real problems," he said.
Renovations began about a week ago at Liquid Lounge, located at 165 Angell St. Owners look to add a kitchen and begin serving food at the late-night spot. Tony Lazieh, general manager, described the revamped space as Liquid Lounge "with a more sporty atmosphere," though he added, "We're going to maintain the Liquid character."
In addition to the new kitchen, owners have redone the floors and plan to install new "plasma TVs," purchase new furniture, add a new sound system and redo the interior. But Lazieh said the owners will likely retain the bar's old layout and will not make any additions to the space. Lazieh said he expects to have everything completed "by the end of the semester," though "everything is very up in the air."
