Dave’s Restaurant to be razed, replaced by hotel, chain eatery

THOMASTON – Dave’s Restaurant on U.S. Route 1 soon will come down to make way for a new Hampton Inn Suites hotel and a yet-to-be-disclosed national chain restaurant.

The sale of the property closed Jan. 3, Peter Anastos said Friday. Anastos, principal owner of Freeport-based Maine Course Hospitality Group, is the new property owner.

Among Maine Course Hospitality Group’s holdings are the Freeport Inn and the Comfort Suites in Freeport; the EconoLodge Inn & Suites in Augusta; and the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Brunswick.

The company also owns the Muddy Rudder restaurants in Yarmouth and Brewer, and the Freeport Cafe and Ground Round restaurants in Bangor and Auburn and in Nashua, N.H.

Construction of the Route 1 hotel is expected to begin in three months, Anastos said, and be completed by spring 2006.

The restaurant construction may begin this year, he said, but could be delayed a year. The restaurant will be a national chain, he said, but no decision has been made on which one.

The demolition of Dave’s Restaurant, which has been a landmark for 36 years, will occur over the next three months, he said. Restaurant co-owner Peter Moody wants to dismantle the building to salvage materials for his church.

In November, Moody removed an adjacent building that had housed an unfinished furniture shop, giving the 55-foot-by-30-foot building to a friend for a home.

The four-story Hampton Inn Suites will have 85 rooms. The 5,800-square-foot restaurant is slated to have a 250-seat capacity.