This Google image shows 326 - 328 Derby Ave. in Derby.
DERBY — Planning & Zoning commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved plans to open a new restaurant in an old brick building at 326 Derby Ave. that once housed a brewery in the ‘30s.
Jason and Sarah Miller, a Derby couple, wants to renovate the first floor to make way for Quail & Ale Neighborhood Pub.
“We figured it’s a great spot for a local restaurant,” Jason Miller said during Tuesday’s P & Z meeting. “We want to stick with the historic look with the brick buildings to make it look like it’s been there for 100 years.”
The location is among eight brick buildings. The neighboring businesses include Derby Glass.
Commissioners approved the Millers’ special exception use and site plan application with conditions.
Their restaurant will seat up to 49 patrons. Jesse T. Judson, a land surveyor hired by the applicants, said with re-striping there will enough parking to meet the city’s 77 space requirement.
Jason Miller said Quail & Ale will open at 5 p.m. most nights, possibly with the exception of earlier openings for lunch on Fridays and weekends.
He said parking spaces should open up after surrounding businesses with daytime hours close.
He said the restaurant will take up approximately 1,400 square feet of the first floor and have a total of eight to 10 employees working different shifts.
Jason Miller does marketing for a living. His wife does administrative work. Jason said the restaurant is their first business venture.
“This is a new idea for us,” he said after Tuesday’s meeting. “We saw the property and it called out to us.”
Miller said he and his wife got the idea for the name from a 1930’s movie about a hunting club called the Quail & Ale.
(Left to right) City engineer Ryan McEvoy, of Milone and MacBroom, listens to a presentation from land surveyor Jesse T. Judson.
The new restaurant will not be a sports bar or a karaoke bar, according to Miller.
“We want to emphasize quality over quantity. We’ll have good pub food,” he said. “It will be a great place to bring a date.”
The Millers are negotiating a lease with the property owner, Burtville Associates. Jason called Tuesday’s land use approval “a good first step.”
Miller wants to open sometime this year, but stressed there is a long way to go. The couple is now arranging the financing for the extensive renovation project.
“It’s all bones now,” Miller said of the existing space. “We have to do everything to code, including the kitchen and the bathrooms.”
Approvals for Starbucks, Moe’s Southwest Grill
The commission unanimously approved a new Moe’s Southwest Grill location at 34 Pershing Drive, next to Leslie’s Pools within Red Raider Plaza. Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
There are more than 700 Moe’s in the U.S., including 10 in Connecticut.
Derby’s Pershing Drive has undergone a complete turnaround over the past decade.
The former Valley Bowl property was redeveloped and Red Raider Plaza was repurposed.
New arrivals include an Aldi’s grocery store, Panera Bread, Planet Fitness, a walk-in medical clinic, Wayback Burgers and Jersey Mike’s.
A Starbucks coffee shop was previously approved to be built at 40 – 60 Pershing Drive (Red Raider Plaza).
Attorney Dominick J. Thomas Jr. presented Starbucks’ site plan modification application to relocate its building footprint about two feet.
Thomas said changes to curbing and the parking configuration necessitated the changes, adding there would be a better flow of traffic on the site.
The commission unanimously approved the changes.
