Restaurateur has plan for Keys building in Cape

Business Today

Su Hill, owner of Saffron Restaurant on Kingshighway, hasn't yet named her downtown project, but she intends to revitalize the former Keys Music Store building at the corner of Broadway and Spanish streets using a "boutique hotel concept" by opening a pub-style restaurant on the first floor and renting sleeping rooms and luxury apartments on the other two floors.

Rob McClary, city inspections director, said for the most part the Keys building is structurally in great shape.

The restaurant would be either an Irish- or English-style pub, serving several ales and a full lunch and dinner menu, including possibly Irish stew and roast beef. Hill said this part of the project could be ready by late 2004. She wants to offer a downtown gathering spot that is more tailored for adults, something different from the riverfront bar scene nightly dominated by younger crowds.

The hotel portion of the building won't open until possibly the spring of 2005, she said. There will be 14 sleeping rooms and two luxury apartments. Hill is staying in an apartment in the building now but plans to move out when the renovations begin.

The new project will have about 50 mostly part-time employees. Hill is working with both local banks and a New York firm in financing the new project.