LEXINGTON, KY - An icon among Lexington restaurants will bring its impressive customer base and gravitas to the burgeoning downtown dining and entertainment scene. Dudley's, the landmark restaurant located in a former school on the corner of South Mill and Maxwell Streets, is relocating into the city's burgeoning new Cheapside entertainment district.
The venerable restaurant, occupying two of the original classrooms opened in Dudley Square in 1981 with a highly popular outdoor patio added in 1983.
"Myself and four other individuals have purchased 267 West Short Street," said owner Debbie Long of the 19th century building that once housed a bank and then law offices. "It hasn't been retrofitted since maybe the mid-'70s or '80s so we have a lot of work to do."
In the restaurant's new incarnation, Long hopes to replace the patio with a rooftop garden. "We're going to do some French doors that will open to the sidewalk, too" she added. The building also provides party and meeting space on the second floor, a feature not available in the current location and expected to boost capacity from 40 to more than 60.
Long said the restaurant will close in its current location in late October with plans to reopen at Short Street in December. The new location, adjacent to the just-opened Pulse nightclub, directly across Short St. from Cheapside Bar & Grill, across North Mill from Metropol restaurant and near The Rosebud and Silks on North Mill, brings an energy boost to an already buzzing area of downtown.
The decision to relocate followed a failure to come to terms with new leasing terms demanded by her Dudley Square landlord, said Long. "After 28 years you get to a point where you say if you're going to continue on it might be nice to pay yourself."
Long said she will continue to own the business and rent the space from the group she formed which will hold varied percentages in the ownership of the building.
The move will afford Long, who also owns Buddy's Restaurant on High Street in Chevy Chase, the opportunity to make a few changes. "It's exciting because we will have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves to a certain degree. This will bring us back to the possibility of having a clientele that is a little bit younger, because there is so much energy downtown. We want to keep the customer base that we have now, but we would like to grow it a little bit and think this is a fabulous opportunity to do that," she said.
"The relocation of Dudleys Restaurant to the core of downtown will only add more excitement and choices to the our ever-changing downtown," said Harold Tate, president and CEO of the Lexington Downtown Development Authority. "The relocation also shows the strong loyalty that our downtown merchants have to our downtown in the fact that they want to remain and be a part of it. It is really exciting news."
That sentiment was echoed by Renee Jackson, President of the Downtown Lexington Corporation. "Dudley's is a Lexington tradition that is well known not only in Kentucky but all over the country. Now they're moving into what is shaping up to be the hottest location downtown and that's the Cheapside Entertainment District. We welcome that move."
There is a recession going on. Any anxieties about making such a move and investment in these times? "It's crazy. But, lots of times there are opportunities that you just have to take advantage of. I feel that by the time we open (in December) there will be a honeymoon period of about three months, then we'll have Keeneland, and then we'll be positioned for the World Equestrian Games, then Keeneland again, the sales and the Breeder's Cup in Louisville and then by 2011 I'm hoping that our economy is looking a little better. If you sit back and wait, you get lost. So we just decided to position ourselves to be ready for it, when it comes," Long said.