Cooper’s Mill restaurant reopens after flood with plenty of changes

Sometimes a disaster offers an opportunity for beneficial change.

After the June 2008 flood inundated the first floor of the Best Western Cooper's Mill Hotel and Restaurant at 100 F Ave. NW, the owners decided to make some major changes to its restaurant and bar during the remodeling process.

“We have changed the layout,” said Gary Petrick, manager of operations for the hotel, bar and restaurant. “We took out all the bathrooms and added new bathrooms that are very user-friendly and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. They used to be 10 feet by 12 feet and now they're each 12 feet by 24 feet.”

“Each bathroom is equipped with all new plumbing and fixtures as well as a baby-changing station.”

Petrick said the hotel's redesigned and expanded lounge opened about five weeks ago. The restaurant reopened Monday.

“We decided to have a ‘soft' opening using only word-of-mouth to let people know we are back,” Petrick said. “Basically, we've had hotel patrons and people driving by as our initial customers. We also called all of our regular customers who have called us each month since the flood to find out when we expected to reopen.”

Petrick said the restaurant will initially be open from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. each day for breakfast and lunch. He hopes to resume dinner service in five or six weeks when the restaurant is fully staffed with about 50 employees and any initial glitches are resolved.

“We took some of our key mainstay employees over to the Best Western Longbranch in Marion to preserve their jobs and benefits,” Petrick said. “They showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Monday morning ready to reopen the restaurant.”

Petrick said many of the regular groups meeting at Cooper's Mill, like the High 12 and Optimists, relocated to the Longbranch.

Representatives from organizations have already contacted Petrick about returning and he thinks they can be scheduled as early as next month.

Petrick said flood repairs and remodeling as well as the loss of business cost about $1.5 million, which was not covered by insurance. Just getting the hotel's elevator back in operation cost about $250,000, he said.

When the restaurant is open for all three meals, Petrick said it will likely close each day between 2 and 4 p.m.

The lounge, which is now about double its size, will stay open all day.

Petrick said every hotel room was remodeled in April 2008 even though everything above the first floor, which took on 8 feet of river water, was not affected.

“Two of the eight rooms on the first floor were transformed into new bathrooms,” he said. “Our regular customers will recognize some of our employees' faces, but they won't recognize the restaurant and lounge. We've changed or replaced everything.”