by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleader.com
Bello Cucina restaurant in downtown St. Joseph is getting a little bigger.
The popular Italian eatery will be able to expand by taking over retail space previously occupied by On A Lark, a woman’s boutique that closed at the end of May and was part of the Mill Stream Shops & Lofts on the corner of College Avenue N. and Minnesota Street E.
“Bello Cucina is looking to add onto their space,” St. Joseph Administrator Judy Weyrens told the city council at its Dec. 19 meeting before it voted to approve an amendment to remove the designated commercial percentages of commercial use associated with the 2008 project.
The 23,706-square-foot mixed-use, bi-level redevelopment project includes six commercial suites that occupy 12,300 square feet on the ground level, including Bello Cucina, and 13 residential units on the second floor of Mill Stream Shops & Lofts, owned by Jon Petters.
The College of St. Benedict-owned On A Lark opened in 2008 in about 1,200 square feet of leased retail space. All of On A Lark’s sales supported CSB women through scholarships and campus improvements, and the boutique’s items can still be found at the campus bookstore.
“The current requirement is to have the street-level businesses with a breakdown of 25 percent restaurant, 25 percent office and 50 percent retail,” Petters wrote in his Nov. 7 application for subdivision review that led to the amendment request at the Dec. 19 city-council meeting.
“We would like it to be changed to say that there must be elements of all three without a specific percentage,” Petters wrote. “There is sufficient parking in rear and easy access.”
Businesses and services at Mill Stream Shops & Lofts include Bello Cucina, Bad Habit Brewing Co., Russell Eyecare & Associates, Developmental Diagnostics, and Collegeville Cos. & Brokerage. Urban-style residential loft condominiums occupy the second floor of the development.
Chef Jason Mueller owns Bello Cucina, which opened in 2012 as the anchor restaurant in the Millstream complex. The restaurant’s outdoor patio seating area was the site of the Christmas tree-lighting on Dec. 2, part of the annual Winterwalk festivities in downtown St. Joseph.
Bello Cucina plans to expand the bar and restaurant into the open suite vacated by On A Lark. The Italian restaurant currently occupies 3,050 square feet with seating for 88 and is proposing to expand an additional 1,290 square feet with 50 new seats requiring 13 parking spaces.
“Mill Stream Shops continues to develop and we want to accommodate requests for more space from existing tenants by changing a requirement of specific percentages for use but keep the uses that are permitted,” Petters gave as his reasons for requesting the amendment that was approved.
The Bello Cucina chain of restaurants includes six locations in Minnesota: Morris, Fergus Falls, Spicer, Marshall, Alexandria and St. Joseph.
