MISSOULA – The Missoula City Council heard proposed plans Wednesday to flip the old Hoagieville drive-in on South Avenue into a new, family-friendly tavern.
“This is the site plan. The existing building would be demolished and a new commercial building would be built. The new building will have 69 interior tavern seats. 20 seat first floor patio and a 36-seat second floor patio,” said City Developer Andrew Boughan.
The plan is still just a plan, and still needs to go through the public hearing process. Some people have already voiced opinions that will probably be repeated on Monday.
“You’ve got to keep in mind that if this facility was torn down you are also going to be destroying a piece of Missoula tradition and history,” Missoula resident Jeff Stevens said.
“I think that a nice new project that really sort of brings a lot of foot traffic and visibility to this corner is going to go a long way to making this part of the neighborhood even better than it already is,” Missoula resident John Newman said.
The proposal might be to change the building, but that doesn’t mean the Hoagieville vibe will vanish. The most important question: Will they still have cheese fries?
“I’ve been back there discussing this with friends and we have floated the idea of a throwback night where we do feature Hoagieville items, like the tacos, is a very polarizing subject. People really are going to miss the tacos and the cheese fries,” Hoagieville owner Chris Goble said.
“We have talked about having a throwback night too. I don’t want people to think I’m turning my back on Hoagieville. Hoagieville has been a part of my life if you read the article yesterday, I started cleaning the lot when I was 11 years old,” he added.
While the new establishment plans on selling alcohol, Goble says that he plans on making it family-friendly by offering a variety of beverages and food.
The plan is to keep the location open no later than 11 p.m. during the summer.
