Little Goat Eats is the name of the place moving into the former Basil's space on Osborne.

Anyone know what's happening with Earls on Main? Is there still a plan to build a new restaurant somewhere on that site?

Mary Browns Famous Chicken and Taters coming to Fort Richmond mall. Joining Domino's in the old Michael P's/Pony Corral/Burger King.

they replaced all the signage in the past year to more modern and bright LED, so I'm assuming they are staying put (at least for the short term).

To refresh everyone's memory, in a somewhat surprising (for Winnipeg) move, the proposal was nixed by the city due to the surface parking and it being a single story building. That was 2 years ago now at the time I don't believe Earls had expressed any interest in re-doing the proposal.

If they don't propose something else, their parking lot land reverts to the city, doesn't it?

I would imagine (given their clientele) a lack of free surface parking would be a kiss of death... I'd be surprised if they don't come back with a proposal with a partner that would include some sort of parking Earl's could use...

I have inside knowledge. All plans are off the table and they have no timeline to build anything new – they're focused on their US expansion right now and have no interest in taking on what would likely be a bigger development than just a restaurant at this time. Only thing that could get them moving is if some developer magically came to them with a plan for the site to partner on.

At the end of the day they're in the restaurant business, and not property development. Plus, with the big Ontario and US expansion underway, Main Street has gone from a top-5 "flagship" store sales/visibility wise, to an average, middle-of-the-road location. Will likely be years before anything happens there (again, unless an angel developer comes along).

^ That's actually not bad... better that the current setup remains than a new even worse one that would be locked in for decades to come. It's a fairly attractive parcel of land... it's not hard to imagine a developer buying it to build something.

In not too long that building will be pushing 40 years old and I'm sure Earls management would be willing to consider offers.

There's no way they will give up the land without a lifetime option on parking in a new development. Maybe at most lease some of the land to a developer. But with that being said, there is no shortage of empty lots that an interested developer could purchase nearby, so doesn't really make sense to try and do it with Earls.

Somewhat aside; god I hope the city at least has a secret plan on how the RT line will access Graham to make sure nothing gets built on the lot. Would have to imagine it will either be the lot south of Century Plaza or the Impark lot on Wesley.

^ If the railside development takes off at The Forks, it'll make development of the lands along Main much more enticing. It's not hard to imagine some sort of parking arrangement being made... I mean, Ivory across the street has a free semi-indoor parking garage in their building.

Agreed Esquire, but I think we're at least 10 years out from getting to that point.

Strolled by the future Brown's Social House on Portage today, the doors were open so I glanced inside. They look months away from completion... at the rate they're going, it would be quite impressive if they were able to open up for hockey season. There are interior walls but not much else.

What was Earls on Main before it was Earls and how long has it been there? I can't for the life of me remember pre-Earls...

I thought it was purpose-built as an Earl's in the late '80s or early '90s.

Yeah, it's been an Earls since it was built, oh, around maybe 1992 or so?

Before that, the lot was vacant for at least five years or so... there was an Avis rent-a-car there prior to then. I guess back when the train station was busier.

Also in that general area (I think where the parking is to the north) was an Esso Gas bar. One of my relatives was the manager of it for a while but I can't remember the exact location relative to Earls.

There was some kind of machine/steel works shop around there. I had a guy make a steel reinforcement for my front door after I had a break in back in the mid/late 1980s. He did it for free which was kind of amazing I thought at the time.

Seems like they are slow-walking construction until they find a franchisee. Pretty amazing that they can't find one to operate a restaurant in a new building, across from an NHL rink.
Winnipeg still on their franchise opportunity list here: http://brownsrestaurantgroup.com/cor...opportunities/

I was under the impression that the people that had opened the other two stores in Winnipeg were doing this one.

From a WFP article in 2014 the franchise group had the development rights to Winnipeg and Saskatchewan and were planning to open 2 units a year for 5 years in Winnipeg.

Not really shocking when you price a location premium into the lease of a location and drive out just about all the profit for the actual operator. It is why there are a few places within a block of MTS Centre that have either remained vacant or struggled even with the return of the NHL.