New business to open in N'Orleans building

A local restaurateur plans to open a new business this spring in the building that housed the Royal N'Orleans restaurant, city records show. Mark Dirnberger filed an application Wednesday for a business license to open a prepared food and beverage business called Katy O'Ferrell's in the long-vacant space at 300 Broadway. On the application, Dirnberger, who owns Bella Italia, 20 N. Spanish St., and is part owner of D'Ladiums, 1127 Broadway, listed March 1 as his estimated opening date. Since its construction in 1868, the building has been an opera house, a meeting place for German immigrants, a Masonic temple, a grocery store and a production facility for the Daily Republican, which later became the Southeast Missourian. The building has been empty since the Royal N'Orleans closed in June 2009. In April, the building's owner -- a company called Culinary Arts Specialties LLC -- had the structure cleaned and repaired to prepare it for potential buyers.

Pertinent address:

300 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO