Stanley and Arlene Browne, owners of Robust Wine Bar, will be adding a second location of their popular restaurant/wine bar at Seventh Street and Washington Avenue in the Laurel Building formerly occupied by Dillard’s. Robust’s downtown site will be 4,200 square feet and is scheduled to open in spring 2012, according to Mack Bradley, spokesperson for the MX District, the downtown development area that includes the Laurel Building and the Mercantile Exchange Building, formerly known as St. Louis Centre. Robust Wine Bar opened at 227 W. Lockwood Ave., in Webster Groves in 2007.
Robust is the second restaurant to be announced as a tenant for the MX District (The first was Pi Pizzeria, announced back in April). The district is undergoing major renovations as part of a project to develop the area into a full-service retail, dining, entertainment, arts, culture and residential district along Washington Avenue. Other restaurants and shopping and entertainment venues slated to open in the MX District are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. All of the venues inside the district are planned to open at the same time – tentatively spring of next year.
This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2011.