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Empire Grill Site May House Coffee Shop

April 13, 2010 - SKOWHEGAN -- The owner of the Somerset Coffee & Tea Co. plans to open a coffee shop downtown in the former Empire Grill.


Robie Leavitt, who established a wholesale and retail coffee and tea business at 399 Waterville Road two years ago, says the plan for downtown includes a drive-up window.


"The idea of having a sit-down coffee shop downtown is very appealing," Leavitt said Monday.


As for the drive-up window, Leavitt said he thinks that is possible, too. The plan is to install the service window near the back of the restaurant, where a large metal vent is now.


"You can go in by The Bankery (on Water Street) and come around that way," he said. "Worse come to worst, you can go beside the Empire Grill and turn around and come back."


Leavitt was scheduled to go before the Board of Selectmen tonight to present his plan for a drive-up window, but had to postpone Monday due to a family emergency.


Empire Grill, remodeled for the 2005 HBO mini-series "Empire Falls," closed in March. Tom Miller and Kerry Pomelow took over the business in 2007, but said the declining economy as well as the energy costs to run a 70-seat restaurant became too much for them.


They said "Empire Falls" producers did a great job making the former pizza joint into a vintage Maine diner, but actually operating it as a business was not so easy. They still own the name Empire Grill.


Skowhegan Code Enforcement Officer Randall Gray said a coffee shop would be allowed in the building, but the idea for a drive-up window could involve use of town property and would have to be approved by selectmen.


Town Manager John Doucette Jr. agreed, adding that a turnaround could pose a problem.


"It's going to be difficult -- it's going to be really difficult," he said. "You've got town-owned property and you've got deliveries all the way down to the Pub. Not that we don't want him to do something there, we definitely do, but it's a hard area there. We've got to see what his proposal is and go from there."


by Doug Harlow, April 13, 2010, Kennebec Journal

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