Six months after Di Bruno Bros. went dark, the 8,000-square-foot building in Strafford has a taker.
The Malvern Prep buddies behind the nearby Goat’s Beard plan to turn the former Italian market into a higher-end Mexican restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The restaurant’s final name is still TBD but the partners envision seating for 180 inside and another 42 on a side patio.
A preliminary rendering of the restaurant proposed for 385 W. Lancaster Ave. in Strafford Shopping Center. The name, Dahlia, is only a “working title,” the owners say.
“We’re excited to bring another restaurant to the community where we live and already do business,” says Sean Coyle, co-owner of Goat’s Beard gastropubs in Wayne and Manayunk, Daisy Tavern in Conshohocken, and Mia Ragazza in Manayunk. “We’re working closely with the township to bring a higher-end Mexican restaurant to Wayne.”
Coyle and longtime business partner Mike “Mac” MacCrory have leased the building from the owners of Strafford Shopping Center and plan to invest about $2.5 million transforming it into what Coyle describes as a polished Mexican restaurant. The centerpiece of the space will be a sizable central bar.
A large central bar will serve as the restaurant’s “showpiece,” according to architect Hannah Rosenberg, who presented this floor plan to Radnor Township zoning officials July 16.
The two restaurateurs are about as local as they come.
Sean Coyle and Mac MacCrory at The Goat’s Beard in Wayne in 2016. The gastropub just celebrated its 10th anniversary on North Wayne Avenue.
Coyle, a Berwyn native who lives in Wayne, is the brother of ANEU Kitchens founder Meridith Coyle. He grew up in the restaurant business, helping his parents at their long-running Tex-Mex favorite, Binni & Flynn’s in Gateway Shopping Center.
A commercial real estate executive, MacCrory also lives in Wayne. His four children attend Radnor schools.
Coyle tells SAVVY the partners have been searching for a second Wayne location for several years. Their new project cleared a key hurdle last week when the Radnor Township Zoning Hearing Board granted a parking variance.
With no room to add spaces, the restaurant will share existing parking with neighboring merchants and the Lancaster County Farmers Market. Because the market operates only three days a week and closes on weekend evenings – when the restaurant expects its biggest crowds – township officials agreed the arrangement made sense.
The site plan showing existing parking for the Wayne farmers market and Strafford Shopping Center.
Together, the shopping center and farmers market provide 307 parking spaces – 175 in the shopping center lot and 132 at the farmers market – far more than the 79 spaces the new restaurant requires under township code.
How does the farmers market feel about its new neighbor? “I met with Mac and we welcome them to the neighborhood,” Erich Sizelove, the market’s manager, tells SAVVY. “We plan to work together to ensure that a sometimes crowded parking lot will meet the needs of both of our patrons.”
Shared parking is nothing new in Radnor, by the way. The township encourages such arrangements because they reduce impervious surfaces that can cause stormwater problems.
The restaurant’s target opening date is TBA; renovations will take months. “Di Bruno Bros. was a lovely facility, but there are several upgrades necessary to turn it into what we need to turn it into,” MacCrory told township officials last week.
Leave a Reply