The Minneapolis bakery
Cupcake is making progress toward a second location in St. Paul, in the former Wonderment toy store on Grand Avenue.
The locally based
Shea architecture firm, which is designing the layout for a number of local restaurants that are going into rehabbed buildings, is leading the new space’s transformation, according to Shea information.
It was a struggle to get to this point, considering the parking woes that the bakery faced earlier on, but the city wound up approving a variance that enabled the business to move forward, according to
Minnesota Public Radio.
Cupcake’s sister bakery will be similar to its existing location, but in addition to coffee, cupcakes, and other foods, it’ll feature a wine bar, according to owner Kevin VanDeraa.
Because of the wine bar aspect of the bakery/restaurant, Cupcake had been required to have 10 parking spaces. It was only able to come up with eight, a situation the city is working with, the story explains.
To get the new space ready, it needs a top-to-bottom renovation, VanDeraa says.
For starters, the place had never been equipped as a restaurant, so it needs new plumbing. Although remodeling has begun, some things are on hold until other parts of the process have been wrapped up. At this point, “We’re not doing anything until we get a business license,” he says.
Already, VanDeraa has invested $100,000 in the project, the MPR story states.
Recently, VanDeraa won the top prize of $50,000 in the
Food Network’s TV show "
Cupcake Champions,” a sum he plans to invest in the new restaurant, he told
CBS. In the future, he may also expand the University Avenue location.
The win also helps build a buzz to keep people coming to the Minneapolis location, despite the headaches that come with
Central Corridor light rail construction.
Source: Kevin VanDeraa, owner, Cupcake
Writer: Anna Pratt