Plans in the works to bring new upscale restaurant to downtown Prattville

PRATTVILLE ― News that a new restaurant is coming to downtown Prattville has social media buzzing and tongues wagging all over town.

Darin and Karen Phillips have announced they are building a restaurant at the Picker House, an historic masonry building on Autauga Creek at the intersection of West Main and South Court streets. Plans are to have the upscale restaurant open in mid- to late 2025.

More: Historic Picker House in downtown Prattville is being turned into a fine-dining restaurant

The couple has announced they are acquiring the building across Court Street, which now houses Kimberlia’s Restaurant. Kimberlia’s opened in 2017.

The Phillipses have bought out Lia Muir’s interest in the restaurant. She is the Lia of Kimberlia’s. They will partner with Kimberly Powell, the Kimber in Kimberlia’s, in the new venture called 243 South.

The name comes from building’s address, 243 South Court St.

The building is historic in its own right, having served as a bank, a dry good store and even a teen disco back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Plans are in the works to begin an “overhaul” of the building in October, according to the 243 South Facebook page. The work will expand the kitchen, add fine retail wine sales, an extended bar, charcuteries and a new menu as work on the Picker House begins.

The upstairs will be built out for two new dining options. Daniel Pratt, who founded the town that bears his name in 1839, maintained an office on the second floor. And the original walk-in vault from the times of the Autauga Banking & Trust Co. is upstairs.

Because the vault would be difficult to move, that section will remain.

The Vault will become an “exclusive” speakeasy and will be accessible from the alley through an upstairs door.  The front of the second floor offers views of downtown and will be The Loft, an event space with in-house catering service.

Indulgence Salon and Spa , which operates on the first floor of the building, facing West Main Street, will remain in operation.

“The massive reinvention and preservation of the heart of downtown is a larger project than we expected, but we are committed,” the Phillips write on Facebook.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Plans in the works to bring new upscale restaurant to downtown Prattville