Retail notebook: Fresh facade for Princess Theater building means possible Dec. 1 opening for new downtown dining spot

Last week, the scaffolding that had been in place for eight months in front of the old Princess Theater building, on Walnut Street just north of the courthouse square, was dismantled—to reveal the completely refurbished facade of the building, which is more than a century old.

It was a sign of progress towards the opening of a new restaurant in the space where most recently the Village Pub had served up flat breads, composed salads, lobster spring rolls, and skewers.

Another, less visible sign of progress came on Wednesday morning (Nov. 5) at a meeting of Monroe County’s alcoholic beverage board. On a unanimous vote, the four-member group recommended the transfer of a three-way liquor permit to the new owner of the building, Neil Patzner.

That recommendation will be passed along to the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission for a final approval. The IATC next meets on Nov. 18.

Appearing in front of the local board on Wednesday were Patzner, attorney Angela Parker, and Mey Cristobal, who is the owner of the planned new restaurant to be called Japonee. Cristobal is also owner of several other Bloomington area restaurants.

Patzner and Cristobal told the board they hope the new restaurant will be open by Dec. 1. Asked after the board meeting, if that might not be a little ambitious, they said some work to prepare the interior has been going on during the facade restoration. Cristobal told The B Square he has a chef and a bartender ready to go. No remodeling of the interior is planned from the configuration used by the Village Pub. The balcony seating will remain.

The menu, Cristobal said, will be focused on sushi, but he recognizes that’s not everyone’s taste—so a steak and a burger will be among the offerings.

Patzner said he’s looking forward to the restaurant opening—for the last eight months he’s been paying for the facade renovation with no revenue coming in. The three residential units on the upper floor have also been unoccupied for the duration of the facade work. Patzner pegged the cost of the facade work at around a half million dollars.

Monroe County property records indicate that Patzner purchased the building for $1 million in February of this year. The building was previously owned by David Howard. Before Howard’s death in the spring of 2023, he had plans for a new venture called Tempo to take the place of his Village Pub. The liquor permit that was recommended for transfer to Patzner by the board on Wednesday came from Howard’s DG&D Properties.

Scaffolding of some kind has been in place in front of the building essentially since the first half of 2023. There was one day earlier this year when the block was scaffold-free, Jessica Messmer remembers. She’s the owner of the Cup & Kettle, next door to the Princess Theater Building. Her business, which relies on foot traffic, has seen a big impact from the scaffolding.

When it was dismantled last week, she told The B Square she was “super happy.” She met her sales goal for the first time this week—since earlier this year, when the scaffolding was swapped out and the sidewalk was clear for one day. Even though things are looking up, it still means a lot of work ahead to make up for the months of losses, Messmer said.