St. John’s Restaurant moving near to St. Martinville's festival grounds?

St. John’s Restaurant, the popular but cramped eatery in the 200 block of East Bridge St. owned by local cattleman Chip Durand, may spread its wings in 2014.

Durand wants to buy the old Talley Co. pecan warehouse at New Market and Hamilton streets, which is owned by the city.

The City Council on Monday authorized Mayor Thomas Nelson to take the steps necessary to sell the property at the appraised value of $74,000. Those steps include holding a public hearing on the sale at the council’s Feb. 3 meeting.

The warehouse, which has seen only occasional use as a farmer’s market in recent years, would require considerable renovation but would significantly increase, perhaps more than double, the seating capacity for the restaurant.

Also, the offer is for over a half acre of property, which would make parking a lot more convenient than in the congested church square area where St. John’s is currently located.

The name St. John’s comes from the nearby Levert-St.John Plantation, where the little cottage that currently houses the restaurant originated. The century-plus-old building was moved by its owner, Anna Mae Foti, to Bridge Street and operated as a restaurant, Allons Manger, by Foti and chef Lucien Broughton.

The late Craig Baudoin, a past owner of RiverFront Restaurant in Abbeville, changed the name to St. John’s and began the successful tradition of offering tasty entrees with fresh seafood that Durand, his successor, has continued and enhanced with an emphasis on quality beef.

A move to the pecan warehouse would give the restaurant a waterfront view and put it adjacent to the city’s festival grounds, the old J.B. Talley Co. headquarters, purchased by the city under an initiative launched by former Mayor Eric Martin.

That property, which includes a wide swath of open land on picturesque Bayou Teche, is currently being studied by an architecture class at UL Lafayette to determine its best public use.

The yet-unnamed property has already served at a site for the city’s major annual events, the Pepper Festival, Okra Festival, Boucherie des Cajuns and Tour du Teche.