Thurston’s Cafe in Calhoun announces closing
Doro’s Italian Restaurant is set to take over its Court Street spot.
Thurston’s Cafe, 114 Court St., has announced it will be closing to make way for Doro’s Italian restaurant.
The surprise isn’t that the Acworth Italian restaurant is coming to Calhoun — there have been reports for months — but the location could be considered a surprise, especially as Thurston’s already has come back from an earlier closing.
“It’s with thankfulness, excitement and sadness that this is our last week to be open!” a Thurston’s Facebook post said Monday. “I know, mind blown, but this all happened really, really fast! We are truly going to miss our wonderful, loyal customers so very much! Thank you for always supporting us! Doro’s, an Italian restaurant, will be the new owners of our building! This will be their second location. Their food is amazing and it will be so great for downtown Calhoun! We hope to see you this week! Much love, Mitzi, Frank and crew!”
Villegas currently has a location under the same name on South Main Street in Acworth.
Doro’s has been trying to finalize a Calhoun location, working through the City’s revolving loan process since earlier in the year, with previous plans to put a location at 117 S. Wall St.
In March, applicant Miguel Villegas — a Doro’s representative — was seeking $250,000 in city loan funds for a Doro’s Italian Restaurant location downtown at 117 S. Wall Street — a venture that was supposed to create 20 new jobs, but the process didn’t make it to the finish line after receiving a 3-0 go-ahead from the City Council in late March.
“This is really a follow up from a loan approval that happened several months ago,” City Administrator Paul Worley said. “Unfortunately that deal didn’t go through as expected.”
In light of a change to the planned location for the eatery, a new vote was held Monday night.
“Discussing the change with (City) Attorney (George) Govignon, he recommended that with the change of address, that we run it through the Revolving Loan Committee again to have reviewed the updated loan application,” Worley said.
The city’s Revolving Loan Advisory Committee report concerning Villegas’ loan application was presented again to the City Council this week, again with the recommendation for approval and got another 3-0 approval with Councilwoman Jackie Palazzolo absent.