Relish

The activity you may have noticed at the corner of Clayton and Price Roads, site of the landmark Busch's Grove restaurant and then The Market(s) at Busch's Grove, is indeed a sign of progress--sort of.

In the back of the building, what was once hailed as "the state of the state of the art restaurant kitchen" and "the million dollar kitchen," has been dismantled, its components sold off. And the operative word is reluctantly, according to Louis Cella, whose family business, Southern Real Estate and Financial, controls the property. "We did everything we could to attract a major restaurant tenant, and created any number of scenarios," Cella said (Relish kept tabs here and here). "We just couldn't make it happen. The last thing we wanted to do was to take out that kitchen."

So a decision was made to convert the 13,000+ SF building to retail space, what Cella only half-jokingly called "Ladue's first and only shopping mall," approximately seven parcels ranging from 1000 to 3000 SF, and tentatively scheduled to open in the Spring of 2013.

The name for the center is still being bandied about, but Cella reports that "half the space is spoken for, but not the 3000 square feet in the front of the building," the facade that faces Clayton Road and includes Busch's storied front porch. For those unfamiliar with the layout of the building, this parcel includes what was the formerly the wine room, home to hundreds and hundreds of bottles of wine, its high walls crafted from rich, dark woods, the room that (to us, anyway) seemed to typify what the new Busch's Grove should feel like. The good news is that those walls and lush interior finishes remain intact.

Sounded to us like a natural place for a wine bar. Cella agreed. "There have been discussions precisely along those lines," he said. "But no deal's been struck."

Ever wanted to own a wine bar in Ladue? There's still time.