To meet growing catering demand, restaurateurs turn historic Rochester building into an event venue
Dec. 20—ROCHESTER — Longtime Rochester restaurateurs
Natalie Victoria
and Christine Stahl are developing a "swanky" 1920s-themed event venue, The Social at the Avalon, in a historic downtown building.
Victoria and Stahl own The Tap House and Tap House West restaurants in Rochester and Victoria is also an owner of Victoria's Ristorante & Wine Bar.
The duo purchased the 104-year-old Avalon Hotel building at 301 N. Broadway Ave. on Dec. 15, 2023, with the plan to turn the space left empty on the main level by the closure of Chez Bojji restaurant into a place to host and cater events.
"Between Victoria's and the Tap Houses, we do a lot of catering and a lot of private parties. The Social will be an extension of that with its own kitchen and bar," said Victoria. "We're going to really kind of lean into the 1920s Great Gatsby era."
While Victoria's can host a group of 70 people, they are remodeling the Broadway space to accommodate up to 125 people. The hope is to have the event venue ready for use by late spring and early summer.
Plans are still being finalized for the second floor. There are also two apartments on the third floor.
The announcement of their plans follow the recent move by
Powers Ventures to close The Well Dining restaurant and turn it into an event venue.
That space is located at 255 First Ave. SW in the city-owned Minnesota Biobusiness Center.
Victoria said local restaurants have seen a steep increase in catering and event requests in 2023.
"It has exploded. Across the board, we have seen catering explode by 150% this last year. It is certainly a trend," she said.
The event catering boom is a national trend that many restaurants are seeing. The theory is that businesses are hosting more events for employees, since many of them work remote or hybrid schedules.
This change marks another milestone for the landmark building, which is listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
The historic building served as a haven in its early years.
It was built in 1919 by a Jewish man named Sam Sternberg as the Northwestern Hotel, a place where Jews could stay at a time when most hotels refused them.
Verne Manning bought the building in 1944 and changed the hotel's name to the Avalon. It was the first hotel in Rochester to accept Black guests, as well as whites. Well-known people such as Duke Ellington stayed at the Avalon Hotel.
By the 1980s, the building was unused and run down. Myrna Hamilton purchased it in 1987 and renovated it to house
her Hamilton Music store.
When Hamilton retired in 2008,
Stephen Lalama bought the complex for $462,791. He moved his Rochester Pro Music business into it and changed the name to Avalon Music, to honor the building's history.
In 2018, it was expanded on the east and back sides to add more space for
Chef Deirdre Conroy's Le Petit Café.
Chef Youness Bojji and his wife, Amber Bojji,
opened Chez Bojji
in the restaurant space. Chez Bojji closed in June.
