LOCAL - Medici Restaurant Planned For Downtown Normal, IL

Work to begin on Normal restaurant in July - Pantagraph article by By Mary Ann Ford: NORMAL -- Work is expected to begin on the 250-seat Medici restaurant planned in downtown Normal by July 1. Co-owner Hans Morsbach, who also owns the popular Medici on 57th St. in Chicago, said the 20,000-square-foot restaurant and accompanying bakery should be open by spring 2007. The restaurant will be built on the former site of Other Ports, 120 W. North St. Other Ports owner Bob Steinman is a partner in the Medici project. The bakery will be next door in the former Village Realty building at 122 W. North St., purchased by Morsbach and Steinman late last year. John Meek, president of general contractors Felmley Dickerson, said the restaurant will bring design concepts residents haven’t seen in the Twin Cities before. "We are doing things that are probably unusual and hopefully exciting," said designer Josh Behr of Behr Design Studio in Chicago and Louisville, Ky. "It will be a special place in town. The inside it will be eclectic, funky, yet sophisticated." Trees will play a major role in the 2 1/2-story restaurant and come from Morsbach’s tree farm in Wisconsin. Behr said Amish workers at the tree farm’s accompanying workshop will create all the wood pieces. "There will be dozens of tables and everyone will be different," he said. The tabletops will include the round end cuts from a variety of trees including hickory, walnut, cherry and oak. A large bar on the first floor will be created from large slabs of wood from the Wisconsin trees. "I believe in the end, it will be a bar that no one has ever seen before," said Behr. Slick lighting created by Ben Spicer, a former lighting designer for Oprah Winfrey, will complement the rough wood. "It will be very high tech and unusual lighting," Behr said. There will be two dining rooms on the first floor — one at the front of the restaurant facing North Street and the other in the atrium. The menu will mirror the Chicago restaurant and include pizza, hamburgers, fish, steak, beef stroganoff and quesadillas. A "grand staircase" under a large curved steel beam will take customers to the second story. The staircase will split two ways at the top — one set going to a dining area at the back, the second to a terrace at the front of the building. Behr said the large terrace will have a hydroponic garden, growing plants without soil, a grill and a second bar that straddles the inside and outside. "There will be one to two dozen beers on tap," Behr said. Morsbach’s son, Paul, who also is a partner in the project, brews beer. The other dining room upstairs will include a projection screen that could be used for conferences or perhaps a restaurant-sponsored Super Bowl party, he said. The upstairs area also could be rented out for parties or even a wedding reception. "We’ve built in a tremendous amount of flexibility," Behr said.But the inside isn’t the only place receiving attention. Behr said the front of the restaurant will be "as honest a reproduction of the original 1900 façade" as it can be. The accompanying bakery building façade also will be returned to its original look. Work to begin on Normal restaurant in July By Mary Ann Ford mailto:Fordmford@pantagraph.com If you enjoyed this post, subscribe and get FREE updates! Appraisal , Bloomington , McLean , Illinois