The 18-year-old Coakley's Pub in Havre de Grace is about to get bigger.
Its owners bought the former Vancherie's restaurant around the corner and plan to renovate it into an extension of the pub and a packaged goods store.
"It's been an eyesore right at the entrance of Havre de Grace," Margie Coakley said of the property, on the corner of Union Avenue and St. John Street.
She noted the site has an outside lot that is nearly 5,000 square feet that will be transformed into an outdoor dining area.
"The first part is converting the old Vancherie's diner into The Cornerstone Fine Wine & Spirits package store," Coakley said."The store will sell assorted spirits along with local art and Havre de Grace souvenirs."
"The second part of the expansion will be an extension of Coakley's Pub, converting the empty lot into an outdoor deck and dining area," she said.
Coakley's has already knocked down part of a brick wall next door to the pub and plans to expand its kitchen as well, "utilizing all the properties' back yards and connecting the entire property together," she said.
Coakley said she is now the sole owner-operator under Coakley's Pub, LLC, with the real estate under Two Fish Bowls, LLC.
"As of today, the diner has been gutted and the lot has been cleared," Coakley said Wednesday."We hope to start construction soon and have the project completed by this fall."
Coakley will need to appear before Harford County's Liquor Control Board for permission to run the packaged goods store.
She said she is "definitely excited about this opportunity" and likes the idea of using a property that belonged to the Vancherie family, pointing out she also bought Coakley's from another city family.
"I think it's going to be fantastic," she said of the project. "We really needed the outdoor part of our business and it helps solve the city's problem, too, [with the property] being overgrown."
The Vancherie building dates to 1930, according to online property records. Coakley said she settled on it April 23.