Coco’s sets date for long-awaited move to new location

DAYTON — Coco’s Bistro is scheduled to close its current restaurant at 515 Wayne Ave. on Oct. 27 and open at its new location at 250 Warren St. just south of downtown Dayton two days later, according to Karen Wick-Gagnet, who co-owns Coco’s with her husband Jim Gagnet.

“We are super-excited to have the new space,” Wick-Gagnet said.

The move — which has been in the works since 2009 — will have bring several advantages, Wick-Gagnet said, including:

  • expanded hours: the new Coco's will open on Saturdays for lunch, and will serve both lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday;
  • more parking: the new restaurant will have about 120 dedicated parking spaces, up from 40 at the Wayne Avenue restaurant;
  • special events room: a separate dining area will seat up to 80 people or can be split to accommodate two smaller parties of 20 to 30, will have audio-visual hookups and access to an outdoor courtyard;
  • more convenient location: customers will have easier highway access from U.S. 35 and diners driving in from the south suburbs of Dayton will have a more direct route, and the strip that connects downtown Dayton with the University of Dayton-Miami Valley Hospital area appears poised for growth, with Easter Seals-Goodwill building a $13 million development across Warren Street on and around the former Benham's restaurant site;
  • expanded bar-lounge area: Coco's lounge will be called the High Violet Lounge, and will offer seating of about 62 — 22 around the bar, and 40 more in the lounge surrounding the bar. It will have a separate, more casual menu that will likely include crispy flatbread pizzas, and will serve the menu at times when the restaurant's dining room is closed, such as between lunch and dinner service from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and after 10 p.m.

The new restaurant’s main dining room will seat about 80 diners, which is about the same as the current Coco’s seating capacity. The bistro’s owners will offer a “sneak peek” at the new restaurant at an open house during Dayton’s Urban Nights festivities on Sept. 14, Wick-Gagnet said.

Coco’s existing location has been for sale, and Wick-Gagnet said, “There is a lot of interest in the current space. We are expecting something to happen in the next 30 days.”

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