Evie's on Main Street to open in September

Four months ago, the future of a new Evie’s location and Taco Bus in the heart of downtown Sarasota was in flux. But despite delays developers attributed to city permitting processes, Main Street’s newest bar has an opening slated for Sept. 2.

"That’s what were shooting for,” said owner Mike Evanoff.

Evanoff said in a previous interview with the Sarasota Observer that the newest Evie’s Tavern location, a key cog in a downtown project focused on nightlife options, is largely going to be in line with his other bars and restaurants throughout the area. It has, however, garnered attention for at least one unique feature: a two-lane bowling alley.

The bowling alley will be the first of its kind on Main Street, a new wrinkle that Evanoff stumbled upon while traveling.

“We got the concept when we went out to Park City, Utah,” Evanoff said. “It’s common there to have new bowling centers — updated, lounge-y, up to date with bigger TVs and soundsystems and all of that stuff.”

Entrepreneur Jesse Biter, who is spearheading the project in the 1500 block of Main Street, said in March that administrative red tape was holding up the building process. Specifically, the development was on hold as the city conducted a traffic study for the new businesses. To Biter, that requirement was a perfect distillation of the city’s negative reputation among developers.

“My biggest argument is we shouldn’t even be doing traffic studies for downtown unless we’re going to celebrate the people bringing traffic to downtown,” Biter said. “That’s the whole reason we have a Main Street.”