DAYTON — A restaurant called Salar Restaurant and Lounge has applied for a liquor license to operate in the former Sidebar location at 410 E. Fifth St.

Dr. Mike Ervin, who owns the building, declined Friday to identify the principals of the new restaurant or to discuss other details about it, saying that legal matters are not yet finalized. Neighboring Oregon District business owners say they’ve seen Margot Blondet, the former executive chef at Sidebar, and Harry Trubounis, the former general manager of Sidebar, working at the site this week. But Ervin declined to discuss whether the two former Sidebar employees — who departed the restaurant several weeks before it closed in late July — are involved in the Salar Restaurant and Lounge group. Neither Trubounis nor Blondet could be reached Friday.

“I was very pleased to see how strong the interest was” among local restaurateurs to lease the former Sidebar and former Pacchia location, Ervin said. “I’ve narrowed it down to one group that is moving forward on multiple fronts to finalize negotiations and to get a restaurant open as quickly as possible.

“It’s an exciting time for the Oregon District,” Ervin said.

The renewed signs of life at the former Sidebar are welcome news for business owners in the Oregon District’s west end, which took twin hits in recent months with the closing of both Sidebar and the Boulevard Haus. “It’s great that something is moving in there,” said Rob Strong, co-owner of neighboring restaurant Thai 9.

Mike Martin — president of the Oregon Business District Association who is also a commercial real estate agent and listing agent for the Boulevard Haus/Cafe Boulevard property — said the liquor license application, combined with the high level of interest that he has encountered since listing the former Boulevard Haus, bodes well for the historic district.

“It’s important that both of those properties are about to spring back to life pretty soon,” Martin said. “It speaks to the successes we’ve had recently in the Oregon Business District and in the greater downtown area.”

Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said, “We are very pleased there is movement on that space … . The Oregon District has the best eclectic group of locally owned restaurants in the region, and that’s very attractive.”