Back in business
WATER TOWER GETTING MAKEOVER FOR NEW RESTAURANT VENTURE
Lethbridge residents should have one more reason to celebrate July 1. That’s the day a new restaurant in the city’s iconic water tower hopes to welcome its first guests. Tower owner Doug Bergen says a Calgary restaurant group has leased the landmark structure, which first opened for diners in 2004.
Renovations are now well advanced, he says, with the successful Vintage Group ready to hire staff and prepare for summer.
“It will be very exciting to see it open,” says Bergen, who surprised City officials with his proposal to repurpose the structure nearly 20 years ago.
Bergen says talks with Lance Hurtubise, president and chief executive officer of the Calgary-based Vintage Group, began after the previous tenant closed down in January 2017.
“We’re calling it the Water Tower Grille,” says Hurtubise. “That’s what everyone is calling it.”
He says the renovations will open more window views, so he’ll be providing telescopes for lounge guests who want to scan the landscape. The service bar will also be relocated, he says, creating a more open ambience. “It will be a fun place to go.” When they’re checking the dining menu, Hurtubise says guests will see local products highlighted. Ideally, they’ll recognize the name of the rancher who raised their beef.
As before, the restaurant will be one floor above the lounge, with a mezzanine area a little higher for private dining.
Like all of the Vintage businesses, he says, the Water Tower Grille will set its own menu. In Calgary, the group operates a variety of outlets ranging from the Vintage Chophouse and Tavern to the Crab Shack and the Redwater Rustic Grille.
“We have seven different concepts,” each with its own appeal.
The new enterprise will also link with the community, Hurtubise says.
To grow a base of customers, “We have to earn it every day,” he says.
“We appreciate that Lethbridge people want value.”
He aims to open the doors the first week of July, hopefully on Canada Day.
The tower’s original business, Ric’s Grill, opened 14 years ago as its Kelowna-based owners pushed to offer more locations across Western Canada. The chain later collapsed in financial difficulty.
The most recent tenants were Rouge, and Cut & Char.
The tower was built in 1958-59 to boost water pressure as new neighbourhoods grew across south Lethbridge. It was decommissioned after a newer reservoir and pressure system were created in 1999.