PRIME STEAK, PRIME REAL ESTATE: The historical land and building that houses Monti’s La Casa Vieja on the corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway has been sold.
The restaurant will remain, but it’s exact future is still undecided.
Owners are selling one of Tempe’s oldest buildings in a deal that officials say will fill a critical cap in Tempe’s downtown experience.
Developer 3W Companies is moving to buy the historic building that houses Monti’s La Casa Vieja and the 2 1/2 acres of land it sits on at Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway.
The developer has pledged to preserve the 51-year-old restaurant and the original portion of the historic building, a Sonoran row house built in the 1870s by Tempe Founder Charles Trumbull Hayden, said Michael Monti, the restaurant’s owner. Monti’s father bought the home in 1954, Monti said, and opened the restaurant shortly after.
But the restaurant interior needs repair and the kitchen needs to be rebuilt, he said.
The restaurant needed a cash infusion to stay open, and the most favorable option was to sell to a trusted developer who would promise to respect the building’s history, Monti said.
“I had sleepless nights grappling [wtih] the decision of whether to even do a deal,” Monti said. “Sometimes change is painful, even if it’s for the better.”
The restaurant will continue to operate as it does now for at least two years while the developers draw up plans, Monti said.
“We estimate that it will be a couple years before anything serious can get started with the development portion of the property,” he said.
After that, the historic home will be preserved, but Monti’s regulars will begin to see a different atmosphere, said Jason Rose, a public relations consultant working with the developer.
Additions to the south of the original home will likely be torn down and a patio will be added to the north, Rose said.
The two-story patio will “create a bridge between the inside and the outside,” Monti said.
“Part of the purpose of that patio is to lure people in, get them excited about the place, get them to take that first step and then get excited about what we have there,” he added.
The Monti’s development will join the historic preservation of the Hayden Flour Mill across the street and a project on US Airways property next door as a final link between Mill Avenue and Tempe Town Lake, Monti said.
The Monti’s renovation, along with the flour mill preservation, will be a unique and exciting addition to downtown Tempe, Rose said.
“What an unbelievably cool way to welcome people onto Mill Avenue,” he said.
Bob Gasser, chair of Tempe’s Historic Preservation Commission, said he is happy the developer has pledged to maintain the restaurant and the historic building but wants to make sure the preservation is done right.
“You want to make sure that it’s done appropriately and it still maintains historical integrity when they’re done with it,” he said.
3W Companies is also building the University Square project, a high-rise office, hotel and condominium on a square block north of the ASU architecture building.
by Jonathan J. Cooper
This article is cache. Original was found at: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2007/03/27/news/700430
