PepeNero Moving to Front Street

New owners mean new plans for the former Trains & Things Hobbies building at 210 East Front Street. After more than a decade at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, Monica and Giorgio Lo Greco are moving their Italian restaurant PepeNero to the ground floor of the downtown building in 2027. Building owners Tricia and Dean Adams of Bay Area Contracting are hard at work on renovations, with plans to also build two upper-floor condos with a rooftop patio and a balcony overlooking Front Street - a rare amenity in that corridor. 

Trains & Things Hobbies closed its doors at the end of September after 43 years in business. When listing the building last fall, owner Peter Magoun said the “time has come to end a long, successful run of a business that has been a presence on Front Steet for several decades.”

Enter Tricia and Dean Adams. The couple were friends with the Magoun family and were contacted by Peter as he sought advice about the building while preparing for retirement. “We thought it sounded interesting,” says Tricia. “We have the skillset with Bay Area Contracting to do something fresh with the space. We thought it would be a fun project for us and our team.”

The Adamses closed on the building in early May. “Our vision was to find someone for the main floor space,” says Tricia. “That’s not something we have any specialty in.” The duo ultimately didn’t have to look far. The Adamses had worked on a house project for Monica and Giorgio Lo Greco, which Monica describes as “one of the smoothest, easiest construction processes we’ve ever had.” That relationship helped pique their interest in moving downtown into the Adamses’ new building.

The Village “has been very generous to us,” says Monica. “(The move) was about the downtown location. The traffic and activity are bigger there, especially in the winter.” The move will also provide the Lo Grecos with an ownership opportunity, Monica says. PepeNero will remain at the Commons through June 2027, when the restaurant’s lease expires, then relocate to Front Street with the goal of opening in the new space next summer. The Lo Grecos will purchase both the ground-floor restaurant space and the building’s full basement from the Adamses.

Depending on how the basement is used – Monica says they’re still deciding exactly how that space will be incorporated – the square footage will likely be slightly smaller than what PepeNero has now. But the planned outdoor patio will be a more manageable size than the 76 seats they have at the Commons, Monica says, along with a more compact interior. She and Giorgio plan to preserve PepeNero just as it is today in the new location.

“The goal is just to change the address,” she says. “We will have the same décor, the same menu. We don’t want to reinvent it or do a new restaurant.”

Raymond Minervini II of The Minervini Group, which manages The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, says the group is “sorry to hear that Pepenero will be moving out next spring. They have been a beloved part of The Village, and we’ll miss their delicious food in the neighborhood. We wish Giorgio and Monica all the best.” He adds that “looking ahead, this presents an exciting opportunity to bring in an up-and-coming restaurant tenant to a landmark space.”

Tricia says Bay Area Contracting also hopes to build two custom condos on the building’s upper floor they would sell to outside buyers. Each condo would have a ground-floor parking space. The northerly condo would have a small balcony overlooking Front Street, a rare amenity for the main downtown stretch of Front Street and something the Adamses only learned was possible after purchasing the building.

“It’s a unique situation with this building because of where it is and where the setback is,” Tricia explains. “That was exciting to find out. The goal is also to use the rooftop, which has views of the bay.”

Extensive exterior renovations are planned. Tricia says the goal is to get the restaurant built out over the next year, then begin work on the condos in fall 2027. Since PepeNero is only open for dinner, construction would occur in the day during off hours, she says.

Despite recent challenges for downtown that have included escalating rents and a churn in locally owned businesses, both Monica and Tricia remain bullish about Front Street. Tricia, who co-owns Lakemore Resort on Arbutus Lake, says clients still look to the city core for experiences ranging from dining out to shopping to exploring real estate.

“Our guests still all go downtown,” she says. “I think that’s why this was so appealing for us.”