Bridge Street Bar Owners to Transform Vacant Building Downtown GR into New Tapas Restaurant

Owners of two popular Bridge Street bars and restaurants are planning to open a new tapas joint nearby on Grand Rapids' west side.

Get our free mobile app

I feel like every time I go down Bridge St. there's something new! Well, here's another restaurant on the way to look forward to! When I go out to eat, I love to try a little bit of everything, so I'm excited for a new place with tasty small dishes to share.

Brothers David and Paul Reinert, who own O'Toole's Public House and Butcher's Union, plan to open a full-service, tapas-style restaurant called Gin Gin’s at the currently vacant 345 Summer Ave. NW, MiBiz reports.

The restauranteurs purchased the property, which is minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, on Sept. 6, 2018 for $880,000.

According to MiBiz,

The Grand Rapids Planning Commission approved the site plan at its meeting Thursday. The approval included granting a special land use request, which will allow the restaurant to stay open for indoor seating past midnight, as well as outdoor seating to remain open past 10 p.m. during the week and past 11 p.m. on weekends.

There are also plans for an outdoor beer garden that will seat 75-80 people. The approximately 4,000 square foot restaurant will have room for 80 people inside.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Reinerts had planned for a larger restaurant.

MiBiz reports David Reinert explained the switch to a smaller establishment during the meeting,

It’s kind of a pivot that we made throughout COVID. We had some plans with the other building, which would have been more of a substantial investment and a much larger team or staff. Through that year and a half, we decided to do something a little more boutique, niche and (that) required a little less staffing.

The Reinerts plan to invest $1.5 million to renovate the space. Gin Gin's is expected to create 40 to 50 jobs for West Michigan.

The pair opened O'Toole's at 448 Bridge St NW in 2003.

Since then, the area has seen a lot of growth and change, and the Reinerts have been a part of it. They opened Butcher’s Union just down the block at 436 Bridge St. NW, at the site of the former nightclub Monte’s, in 2017

An expected opening date for Gin Gin's hasn't been revealed yet -  We'll keep you posted!