The owners of Charlottesville’s Bella’s Italian Restaurant are looking to Short Pump for their first Richmond outpost and leased space at at 11408 W. Broad St. (photo by Michael Schwartz)
The scent of the Richmond market has lured two more sets of Charlottesville restaurateurs into town.
Continental Divide leased the former Mint Gastropub space at 2501 W. Main St. last month for its first location outside of Cavalier country. It has operated in Charlottesville for 20 years
Farther west, the husband-and-wife owners of Charlottesville’s Bella’s Italian Restaurant are looking to Short Pump for their first Richmond outpost.
Douglas Muir and Valeria Bisenti opened the first Bella’s in 2012 just up the road from the UVA campus.
Muir said he knew early on that he wanted to expand to Richmond.
“I wanted to perfect it, so I waited two years,” Muir said.
He and Bisenti found their spot in Richmond in 3,400 square feet at 11408 W. Broad St. It’s a vacant retail space in the Walmart-anchored shopping center near Short Pump. They plan to open June 26.
Muir said he considered opening in the Fan, Rockets Landing and Libbie and Patterson before deciding on Short Pump.
Brokers Jim Ashby and Richard Thalhimer of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer represented the landlord in the lease.
It will cost $250,000 for to renovate the space and $509,000 for the entire project, Muir said. He is financing half of his efforts with a loan from Union First Market Bank and the other half with private equity.
Muir has been teaching at UVA for more than two years and also runs a Charlottesville-based private equity firm called Muir & Associates.
But Muir isn’t new to the food industry. He said he brought Virginia’s first Wild Wings Café franchise to Charlottesville in 2001. He sold his Wild Wings holdings in 2010.
In addition to heading east for Richmond, Bella’s has a northward expansion in mind, Muir said.
“We’re going to open three more in Vienna, Fairfax and Tyson’s Corner,” he said. “They’d all be licensed under me. I’m using the Starbucks model.”
Bella’s is planning to hire 29 employees and will offer them medical, dental and eye insurance, one week of paid vacation and an ACAC gym membership, Muir said.
The former Mint space that Continental Divide will take over at 2501 W. Main St. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
For its entrance into Richmond, Continental Divide seized a chance to move into Richmond when Mint closed its doors in the Fan in March to relocate to the Haxall Canal.
The southwestern style restaurant opened two decades ago on West Main Street in Charlottesville, not far from Bella’s. Duffy Pappas founded the eatery and eventually Shaun Farrell, Donnie Barrett and Chas Webster also took on ownership roles.
The owners of Continental Divide would not say exactly when they plan to open for business in the Fan.
Bella’s and Continental Divide will have some company from Charlottesville when they officially arrive in Richmond.
Christian’s Pizza, a well-known pizza place in Charlottesville, has two locations in the works locally.
The owners of Charlottesville’s Bella’s Italian Restaurant are looking to Short Pump for their first Richmond outpost and leased space at at 11408 W. Broad St. (photo by Michael Schwartz)
The scent of the Richmond market has lured two more sets of Charlottesville restaurateurs into town.
Continental Divide leased the former Mint Gastropub space at 2501 W. Main St. last month for its first location outside of Cavalier country. It has operated in Charlottesville for 20 years
Farther west, the husband-and-wife owners of Charlottesville’s Bella’s Italian Restaurant are looking to Short Pump for their first Richmond outpost.
Douglas Muir and Valeria Bisenti opened the first Bella’s in 2012 just up the road from the UVA campus.
Muir said he knew early on that he wanted to expand to Richmond.
“I wanted to perfect it, so I waited two years,” Muir said.
He and Bisenti found their spot in Richmond in 3,400 square feet at 11408 W. Broad St. It’s a vacant retail space in the Walmart-anchored shopping center near Short Pump. They plan to open June 26.
Muir said he considered opening in the Fan, Rockets Landing and Libbie and Patterson before deciding on Short Pump.
Brokers Jim Ashby and Richard Thalhimer of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer represented the landlord in the lease.
It will cost $250,000 for to renovate the space and $509,000 for the entire project, Muir said. He is financing half of his efforts with a loan from Union First Market Bank and the other half with private equity.
Muir has been teaching at UVA for more than two years and also runs a Charlottesville-based private equity firm called Muir & Associates.
But Muir isn’t new to the food industry. He said he brought Virginia’s first Wild Wings Café franchise to Charlottesville in 2001. He sold his Wild Wings holdings in 2010.
In addition to heading east for Richmond, Bella’s has a northward expansion in mind, Muir said.
“We’re going to open three more in Vienna, Fairfax and Tyson’s Corner,” he said. “They’d all be licensed under me. I’m using the Starbucks model.”
Bella’s is planning to hire 29 employees and will offer them medical, dental and eye insurance, one week of paid vacation and an ACAC gym membership, Muir said.
The former Mint space that Continental Divide will take over at 2501 W. Main St. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
For its entrance into Richmond, Continental Divide seized a chance to move into Richmond when Mint closed its doors in the Fan in March to relocate to the Haxall Canal.
The southwestern style restaurant opened two decades ago on West Main Street in Charlottesville, not far from Bella’s. Duffy Pappas founded the eatery and eventually Shaun Farrell, Donnie Barrett and Chas Webster also took on ownership roles.
The owners of Continental Divide would not say exactly when they plan to open for business in the Fan.
Bella’s and Continental Divide will have some company from Charlottesville when they officially arrive in Richmond.
Christian’s Pizza, a well-known pizza place in Charlottesville, has two locations in the works locally.