A week after Canino's Italian Restaurant closes on Dec. 23, a new owner will take over the building at 613 S. College Ave.

The Little Bird Bakeshop, a fixture in Old Town Square for the past 12 years, is buying the historic building and plans to move from downtown to give it the space it needs to expand and grow.

Little Bird owner Amy Corliss said she plans to keep the Old Town Square store open through Valentine's Day and transition to the new site in March after renovations are complete.

The bakeshop will soon look for a tenant to sublease its space in Old Town Square.

Corliss and her husband, Glenn Corliss, were the first people to look at the Canino's building when it went on the market in August.

"This is a once in a I-don't-know-how-many-year opportunity that popped up," Amy Corliss said. "It's the right location, right character, right style of building, it's a good space, there's room to grow, all of those things."

More:From lasagna to mythical spumoni, Canino's held to its Italian roots

Little Bird, with indoor seating for 35, is close to outgrowing its space in Old Town Square, and it's no more evident than when the weather turns.

In good weather, customers sit outside enjoying the ambiance of Old Town Square. In bad weather, conditions can get crowded, meaning people look around for places to sit and often have to take their food and coffee to go, she said.

Through COVID and post-COVID, the bakeshop experienced tremendous growth but "it's been hard to sustain" in Little Bird's current location, with limited storage and production space.

"I feel like the timing on this coming along is really good," she said. "If it had come any sooner, we wouldn’t be as financially prepared to make a move. If this had come along sooner, I don't think we would have been established enough to take our customer base with us. A lot of things are coming together."

Corliss hopes Little Bird's customers will follow them to the new spot but acknowledges she has a captive audience of people working in Old Town Square. On the other hand, she believes the bakeshop loses customers due to parking issues downtown.

"We've heard over the years that some of our former pretty regular people don't come as frequently because Old Town is busier and parking is more difficult," Corliss said. "Do we lose people who live here because they don't want to deal with the hubbub?"

Canino's has 14 dedicated spaces behind the restaurant and on-street parking in front of the building. "That's really exciting," she said.

The Canino's building has much more room to expand, including the sunroom and dining rooms. The second floor will be used by Glenn Corliss and his business, DBF Kitchens.

Corliss envisions the sunroom to be the "ideal morning seating," she said. "It's so bright and sunny and east facing. That’s where I would want to sit and have my coffee."

The current dining room will continue to be a customer seating area. And a wait station where Canino's servers fill drinks will become the service counter and pastry cases "so we're preserving as much upfront space for customers."

Corliss anticipates keeping much of the Canino's interior the same except for a minor facelift, removing carpet to reveal, she hopes, hardwood floors and brightening and lightening some of the dark interior.

"There is already beautiful woodworking and character," she said.

She wants the space that's not on the dark side to reflect the bright, airy look of the existing Little Bird Bakeshop, Corliss said.

Little Bird building on a legacy by Canino's

The Little Bird purchase keeps the historic Canino's building as a restaurant and open for the public to see, something that makes Corliss and the Canino family happy.

"I feel really honored that they’re excited we are the people who are taking over," Corliss said. "We're honored to keep that space that (Clyde Canino) spent his life building. It's neat we get to carry on keeping it as a gathering place. It feels special to have someone who clearly cared so much and poured themselves into their business and be able to build on all their hard work and dedication."

Clyde Canino said Little Bird's offer was the first and "it just seemed like everything fell into place. My dad always told me not to force anything, and nothing was forced. It just seemed like a good fit."

Canino's announced in August it planned to close by the end of the year after a 46-year run in Fort Collins, making it one of the longest-tenured and longest-family-owned restaurants in the city.

He put the building and its contents on the market for $1.5 million but made it clear the purchase did not include family recipes or the iconic green canopy.

Canino's liquor license will transfer over to Little Bird, giving the bakeshop a liquor license for the first time. Corliss said they'll start with wine at the least and see where things go from there. They hope to incorporate some later hours for an evening dessert cafe to fill a niche vacated when the Chocolate Cafe closed in Old Town.

"We are excited about some fun new projects and ways to be reinvigorated and reinspired and fill a niche that's open," she said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Little Bird Bakeshop will move into Canino's in Fort Collins