A dining hall with four restaurants and a bar will open in a few weeks in downtown New Britain, filling the first floor of a five-story 1885 building that recently had its upper floors converted into 44 apartments.

The Assembly Room is in the 222 on Main building, which is owned and developed by Dan Czyzewski.

The tenants in the 7,500-square-feet Assembly Room space include a bar called The Industrial; a coffee shop named Miel; a sushi spot called Nikko; a Creole BBQ; and an eatery that combines the menus of three stalls of Hartford’s Parkville Market: Fowl Play, Las Tortas MX and Burrito Loko.

Czyzewski said the space, which also has a pool table and a 500-square-feet rentable function room, should have its grand opening on a Friday in early November.

The Assembly Room will serve food and drinks from early morning to late at night. “The café will open for breakfasts and then the other restaurants will open in morning and afternoon and the bar will be open into the night,” Czyzewski said.

“We chose this concept because the space is too big for just one tenant. We wanted to diversify and give people options and expand the nightlife in the downtown area.”

The hall has open seating for about 200 people, inside at small tables and on plush sofas, as well as on a patio behind the building that can be walled in during cold weather.

City Planner Steven P. Schiller said Czyzewski’s multi-restaurant vision has been tried, without luck, by others in the city.

“Developers have broached the idea in other large vacant spaces downtown. They just haven’t been able to pull it off,” Schiller said. “It’s a difficult thing, retrofitting a former commercial space in a big, old building, putting in systems like public bathrooms, fire suppression for restaurant areas, things like that.

“Maybe this will be a model for others. I’m excited about the additional vibrancy and activity in our downtown area,” Schiller said.

For decades starting in the late 19th century, the five-story building was home to BC Porter & Sons furniture store. Schiller said that business closed about 25 years ago. More recently, the first floor was the home of National Discount Stores.

Restaurants

Vincent Placeres, who owns three MofonGo Puerto Rican restaurants in New Britain, Windsor and in Parkville Market, owns Creole BBQ, which he calls “Louisiana-style barbecue, with a twist. There’s a lot of emphasis on the side dishes: macaroni and cheese, grits, Cajun fries, corn bread.”

Among his menu items are pulled pork sandwiches, andouille sausage grinders, grits with blackened shrimp, chicken and waffles, mesquite chicken sandwich, white cheddar mac-and-cheese, a mac-and-cheese Creole bowl with pulled pork and cornbread and spicy, super-crispy Cajun fries.

Placeres’ flagship MofonGo is just a few seconds’ walk from The Assembly Room. Placeres will smoke the meat and do the cooking at MofonGo and put together the meals at The Assembly Room.

Andres and Marlon Soriano, the El Salvador-born brothers behind Que Chivo restaurant at Parkville Market, own The Industrial bar, whose name evokes New Britain’s manufacturing history.

Andres Soriano has worked for Max Restaurant Group for 18 years, the last six as bar manager at Max Fish in Glastonbury. Marlon got his start in the restaurant industry at Max also.

“Our bar will be upscale, craft cocktails, wines by the glass and by the bottle. We also will serve tapas plates, meats and cheeses,” Andres Soriano said. “We want to have live music.”

The Fowl Play-Las Tortas MX-Burrito Loko restaurant is owned by Enrique and Julie Rodriguez, who own those restaurants at Parkville Market. The Rodriguezes have the only full-service kitchen in the space.

Enrique Rodriguez said he plans to open early for breakfast and stay open until late in the evening.

“We want to make people feel like home here, a place where they can go after leaving their offices around here, where they can sit on a comfy couch and have a beer and a hot chicken sandwich,” he said.

Miel, which will serve coffee, espresso, smoothies, pastries and grab-and-go items, is owned by Humberto Ontiveros. Nikko, which will sell salad and ceviche as well as sushi, is owned by Africa Vargas.

Czyzewski said all 44 apartments he developed on floors two through five of the 222 Main St. building are occupied and he has a long waiting list. Other apartment development has been taking place downtown. He said the downtown residential boom often makes street parking a challenge. He encouraged visitors to The Assembly Room to park in the nearby city garage.

For information, see theassemblyroomct.com.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.