George Karandrikas' decision to tear down Chapps at the Hill Restaurant in Spring Garden Township and build a new eatery on roughly the same site was two years in the making, he said.
The project's watershed moment came in August 2008, when Karandrikas bought a house directly behind Chapps. That additional property, Karandrikas said, gave him enough room to build the restaurant of his dreams, with 300 seats and an outdoor patio.
He'll also have to tear down an adjacent building on South Queen Street that houses his daughter's cosmetics business.
Chapps would have celebrated its 14th year under Karandrikas' ownership Saturday, but he closed it for good Wednesday.
Karandrikas looks ready for a change, though. He laughed and joked with employees and family members who gathered at the restaurant Thursday to help prepare it for demolition.
"Don't scratch the wall," Karandrikas wisecracked to an employee who was dismantling a light fixture.
The new place will have a lighter, more casual feel, Karandrikas said, a far cry from Chapps, a place once viewed as most suitable for weddings, funerals, proms and marriage proposals.
"Marriage proposals." Yep, went there for my first homecoming and that's where I was served the plate from my hubby that said "Will you marry me." I'll miss the old Chapps.