Hill's new restaurant at least a year off

Cape Girardeau restaurateur Su Hill has a new restaurant opening in eight days, but it's not the one some of you have been asking me about.

On July 5, Hill -- who owns the popular Saffron -- and a group of private investors are opening Joseph's Fine Steak and J.'s Martini Bar in the former spot of Malone Avenue Grill in Sikeston, Mo.

She had been working on the plans for the downtown Cape Girardeau building she owns, the former site of Keys Music Store at Broadway and Spanish Street, to open a restaurant there.

But then she heard that the Malone Avenue Grill was going out of business, so she and her partners scooped up that property and Hill refocused her attention there.

"I think Sikeston needs something like that," she said. "We think it will add something to the community."

Not that she's neglecting the project up here. Work started this week on the roof, which will be replaced. Then the windows will be replaced and tuck-point work will be done.

After that, she will start remodeling the interior of the three-floor building, and she estimates it will open late next year. It may even be early 2007, she said.

Oh, and the focus has changed somewhat. She originally wanted to make the restaurant an Irish pub. But she heard that Paul Dirnberger was going to turn the old Cast-A-Ways building on Broadway into an Irish pub and she didn't want to copy that.

Now, she plans to put a pan-Asian restaurant in the first floor that will serve food similar to what is served at Saffron. She also wants to convert the second floor into a banquet facility/meeting room. She still plans to live on the third floor, though that is something she will do last, she said.

"I know I'm doing it slowly," she said. "But I want to do it right. I want it to be nice."

* Fit for a king's center: King's Center already has some tenants lined up. The newly built retail center at 1131 N. Kingshighway already has most of the front suites all but spoken for.

Owner and developer Sandy Helwege said that those taking up spaces include: Cingular Wireless, Budget Rent-A-Car, High Street Station of Cape (home decor), Beltone Hearing Aid, Home Town Cash Advance, Accuracy Shop (guns), Meals and Thymes and an as-yet-unnamed financial company.

Meals and Thymes is a new business, Helwege said. It will offer food, but in a different way. She said that the business, which opens Aug. 1, will feature as many as 15 different items a month, such as shrimp scampi or pasta con broccoli.

Then you can pick out the prepackaged items you want and take them home and put them in the freezer until you want to prepare the meal. "It's a big concept out east," she said. "People are going to like it."

Cash Advance opened last week and the rest are opening soon, she said. By the way, she's still looking to fill the back suites.

* Shocking sale: The former Davis Electric building at 230 N. Spring St. in Cape Girardeau has been sold, according to Tom Kelsey, commercial broker with Lorimont Place, Ltd., who represented the sellers in the transaction.

Christopher A. Lix, a local contractor, purchased the property, which is just off North Kingshighway. The 27,800-square-foot building is divided into offices, former manufacturing and warehouse areas. Plans are to renovate the building into commercial lease spaces. The buyer will also use a portion of the building for his company. Lix was represented by Kim Baker with Town & Country Realty.

The masonry building was originally built in the early 1950s by Davis Electric and used for many years in manufacturing various electrical components. In recent years, it was occupied by Horizon Music and also used for manufacturing.

* Moving this way: On Friday, the Way Christian Books and Gifts closed its doors at its uptown Jackson location and will open at its new spot on July 5. The Way is moving to the former site of the Old Country Spanish Shop at 3862 E. Jackson Blvd.

Owner Donna Hitt said what some other tenants along South High Street have said, that the lack of parking has forced them to move.

"Totally, totally, totally because of the parking," Hitt said.

Does she sound frustrated?

"Honestly, without an exaggeration, my customers would tell me they drove around and around and finally gave up and went home because they couldn't find a spot," she said.

By the way, the new spot has plenty of parking.

* Going to the chapel: There's lots going on at Rose Bed Inn on South Sprigg Street. Owners Eldon Natier and James Coley have done a lot with the entire 600 block, which they now own all of. Most recently, they opened a wedding chapel that features three wedding and reception settings: the wedding chapel, a garden area and a Victorian parlor.

They've also opened the Ramblin' Rose, a completely furnished three-bedroom guest house. Natier tells me that people really like having the amenities of a bed and breakfast, but much more privacy.

They've also opened the Gypsy Rose, another bed and breakfast that features such rooms as the Sun Rose, the Mystic Rose and the Carnival Rose.

They've added so much they've even added to their name: It's now called the Rose Bed Inn Hospitality Center.

* AMC looking? While a new Kerasotes Theatres is still up in the air, I have it on good authority that Kansas City-based AMC Entertainment has been making inquiries about opening a megaplex movie theater in Cape Girardeau. One spot they've considered: the North Pointe Center development on North Kingshighway.

* My mistake: In my last column, I mistakenly reported that Country Shade was moving into the former Kandy Kane Cleaners. It's actually Budget Blinds that is looking to move there. Country Shade's customers will be glad to know it's not going anywhere. My apologies.

Quickly

• Precious Memories in Jackson has been bought from Tonya Landewee by longtime employee Anita Jones.

* Cape Cuts at 10 S. Plaza Way has added five tanning beds and is now known as Cape Cuts & Tanning.

* C&C Auto Repairs is scheduled to open this week at 447 N. Main St. The owner is Leonard Copen.

Scott Moyers is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. Send comments, business news, information or questions to Biz Buzz, 301 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699, call 335-6611, extension 137 or e-mail smoyers@semissourian.com.