In Brief: Papa Joe's Looking to Expand, Bistro Joe's Gets a Balcony

There are big changes in the works for the strip of stores housing along Woodward Avenue.

According to plans presented at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Birmingham Planning Board, Papa Joe’s is currently looking to expand the building and add a new indoor/outdoor market and separate retail space next to .

The market will add an additional 2,606 square feet of space to the gourmet market and include a skylight and 40-foot ceilings. The new retail space will add an additional 1,426 square feet to the strip mall and feature aluminum and clear glass doors and windows so as to blend in with the rest of the storefronts.

Papa Joe’s representatives were sent back with a variety of instructions from the board, including directions to improve the parking lot, add landscaping and tweak several of the plan’s aesthetic and technical details. The group has plans to return with a revised plan to the Planning Board’s next meeting Sept. 21.

Papa Joe’s new in-house bistro, Bistro Joe’s, also had some changes to present to the board. The group received approval to add a balcony to the bistro, to be located at 34244 Woodward Ave. A canopy and revised seating layout was also presented to the board.

Bistro Joe's, the gourmet's market conception of a bistro, received one of the first official bistro licenses in November 2007, per the 2007 bistro ordinance. A bistro is defined as a small restaurant with outdoor seating, a full-service kitchen and no more than 65 seats. Before that, Bistro Joe's grew out of an outdoor-dining concept approved by the Planning board in May 2003.

Planning Board members were pleased with the plan, though they noted the Fire Department would have to review the accessibility of the balcony before the group sought approval from the Birmingham City Commission.