Frankston’s former exotic strip club is about to be transformed into an upmarket restaurant overlooking Port Phillip Bay.
Frankston City Council approved a recommendation for the restoration and alteration of the historic building into a restaurant/tavern at its planning meeting last Monday.
The venue is expected to be open for business in May and will accommodate up to 500 patrons.
Council decided the use and restoration of the heritage-listed building would make a “positive contribution to the streetscape” and had the “potential to lift the profile of the site and meet a niche in the market for a different dining experience in Frankston”.
Developer Stewart Braiser said the restaurant complex would include a new beer garden on the roof of the current building offering views over the bay.
He took over the lease of the building last September and said he had been working since then on plans for the new development. “We will take the roof off it and restore it to its former glory,” Mr Braiser said.
“The roof will become a large deck with views over Frankston and offer an upmarket venue targeting people over 25 years.”
Mr Braiser said the building had already been gutted and restoration work was expected to start next week.
He moved to Frankston four years ago but first got the idea to transform the building after he visited it in the mid-1990s when it was a venue featuring local bands and called The Saloon Bar.
Originally a post office, the venue has changed use a number of times, most controversially becoming a strip club in 1997.
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