Take a moment to sit back in your chair, close your eyes, and imagine the smell of a freshly baked pie, a beautifully frosted cake, a savory muffin, a sugary donut, or even that doughy sweet smell of bread and bagels.
Now open your eyes and imagine that smell wafting to your nose as you’re walking down Main Street in Jeffersonville. Exciting, right? Well, come Fall, that may just be what your nose will be smelling!
“We’re hoping to open sometime in September,” said Tavern on Main owner Lauren Seikaly as she smiled and looked at the building in front of her, “but you know how things go. Everything takes time.”
Just last year, the Epstein Law Office stood where the future two-story Jeffersonville Baking Company is currently being constructed.
Seikaly and her husband, Michael Huber, had hoped to keep the original building and convert it into the bakery, as the law office held memories of when the pair signed papers to their Jeffersonville home years ago.
“As we were getting down to the bones of the building, our contractor basically told us that the structure was in really bad shape and that we would be spending just as much time and money to repair it as we would building a whole new structure,” Seikaly stated. “So here we are. And to be honest, it’s worked out because we realized that we wanted this building to be much more than just a bakery.
“We want it to be a place for community, for coming together, a place for people to gather.”
According to Seikaly, the first floor of the bakery will have a sitting area for morning coffee and breakfast, a center counter just off the kitchen with baked goods on display, and a separate reading room with cozy chairs and books.
The second floor will also have a kitchen but will be an open floor plan where parties, receptions or even meetings can be held. There will be an elevator to the second floor for customers who have a harder time climbing stairs, as well as a balcony off the front and the side of the building where Seikaly hopes people will enjoy the parades that go through town.
“As we were going through the permit process with the Town Board, one of the first things that was said was that if we were going to construct a building that could hold a large number of people, we really needed to have a parking lot,” Seikaly explained.
So, behind the Jeffersonville Baking Company they will be clearing out and paving a parking lot, with a one-way entrance off of Main Street, Route 52, and a one-way exit onto the street behind.
And the open property between the bakery and Michaelangelo’s pizzeria?
That will be cleaned up and used as an outdoor park area.
“We want to have outdoor seating in the summertime,” Seikaly smiled, pointing outside to the snowy, grassy area, “so all out here and around the back will be places to sit in the garden. People can come in, buy their coffee and muffins, and sit outside to enjoy the sun and the outdoors.”
And if you’re looking for more than just muffins or pies, Seikaly and her husband are leaning towards having a light lunch menu as well. Think salads, wraps, soups, and sandwiches. So if you’re not quite feeling like a filling burger and fries from the Tavern, you can pop over to the bakery for a lighter fare.
“There is still quite a lot of things that need to be worked out and thought about,” said Seikaly, “But we’re really excited. This will be the first time we open something like this, but we’ve had so much support from the community that it makes it easier on us, and we look forward to the future.”
By, Autumn Schanill