Former Streetside Records building will become Westport Ale House

A former Westport recorded-music mecca will get a new life as a restaurant and bar.

Zach Marten and Bret Springs, owners of the Coal Vines restaurant on the Country Club Plaza, have signed a lease for the former Streetside Records building at 4128 Broadway. They plan to open Westport Ale House there later this year.

“We wanted to open our own original, local concept in Westport,” Marten said. “We like the original concepts and the energy that Westport brings.”

The partners are still working on the menu, and more details will be available later this month. Westport Ale House will seat about 125 people and have 50 full-time and part-time employees.

The 9,054-square-foot building (circa 1950) is on a corner lot and has an unusual midcentury modern design with a stainless steel overhang and nearly floor-to-ceiling windows wrapping around the front.

Marten and Springs plan to remodel the interior for a 4,500-square-foot restaurant and bar on the street level, with the kitchen in the basement. They plan to keep as much of the original facade as possible, but some of the windows will be converted to garage doors that will be raised during nicer weather.

Westport Ale House also will have an outdoor patio along Broadway.

Two years after opening Pho’ Hoa Noodle Soup on Independence Avenue, owner Spike Nguyen is ready to expand.

He plans to open a second location called iPho Tower Vietnamese-French Bistro in midtown in early 2014. Nguyen plans to remodel a space at 3623 Broadway and open a more upscale version of his Independence Avenue restaurant. It will include a lounge area for live music and an open kitchen.

Cafe Provence plans to open the French Market by Cafe Provence in Prairie Village in early November.

The French Market, at 6947 Tomahawk Road, will sell its own dressings, chutneys, aioli, quiche, pates, sauces, soups and stews, as well as some French-imported products, including linens and tablewear.

“I think a lot of times people are hesitant and intimidated by French food — they think of it as heavy, a lot of butter, expensive,” said Patrick Quillec, general manager of Cafe Provence. “They always think high-handed restaurants. So this will give them a better understanding of what French food is all about, and it can be easy on the pocketbook.”

The metro’s first Academy Sports + Outdoors store plans a soft opening at 8 a.m. Friday.

The 73,000-square-foot store is at 9781 Quivira Road, Overland Park, just south of Oak Park Mall. An Olathe store is scheduled to open later this year.

Academy Sports’ departments include footwear, outdoor living, camping, team sports, golf, archery, apparel, firearms, fitness, boating, and sunglasses and watches.

Items include athletic shoes, Crocs and hiking boots; fire pits, grills, smokers and accessories such as cast iron skillets and barbecue spices; Spider-Man and Hello Kitty backpacks; patio furniture and pop-up canopies; and sporting equipment, including nearly a full aisle stocked with soccer balls.

This story was originally published August 15, 2013 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Former Streetside Records building will become Westport Ale House."