If the lines of waiting patrons are any indication, a new restaurant and shopping plaza in Vail is a welcome addition to an area teeming with recent arrivals but lagging in new businesses.
The Old Vail Station Retail Center at 13190 E. Colossal Cave Road is not only the newest shopping center in Vail, it's the only one, said one of the property owners, Scott Lewis.
In addition to Montgomery's Grill and Saloon, which opened Nov. 14, the brick and stucco commercial center also includes a nail salon, a hair salon and will soon feature a real-estate office, an insurance agency, financial services, a coffee shop, a dance studio and a gym for women.
"It provides a lot of services that are needed in the Vail area,'' Lewis said.
Lewis and partner Tom Parsons worked together with Evan Eglin, a Tucson architect and Vail resident, to create a shopping center they hope works well for the area.
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Eglin decided on the train-station theme because the center is right next to the railroad tracks. Patrons at Montgomery's can enjoy watching the trains pass while they eat lunch and dinner.
"It's exciting to do work in this area, especially considering it's my neighborhood,'' said Eglin, who earned his bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Arizona in 1978. "The thing about this valley is that we're trying to keep as much of a country feel as possible."
"This is a unique part of town. We have a real opportunity to become a very well-designed and well-planned area,'' he said.
Two more commercial buildings, which will also feature the Spanish colonial architecture used in the first one, will eventually be constructed, Eglin said. But the next step is to build a storage facility behind the recently completed retail center.
The storage facility will be 30,000 square feet to start, according to Lewis, and will include climate-controlled units and units for boats, cars and recreational vehicles.
For Liz Montgomery, one of the owners of the new restaurant, opening the new restaurant within the plaza is a "dream come true."
"It's been terrific and it's been overwhelming,'' said Liz Montgomery, who owns the new restaurant with her husband, Jerry, and partner Mike Gill. "We're far busier than we ever expected."
Montgomery and her husband owned an Irish Pub on the East Side, but sold it and were hoping to open a new one when they met Lewis about a year ago.
"I overheard a conversation he was having," she said, explaining she met Lewis by chance at a restaurant. "It was very much a coincidence.''
Montgomery's serves lunch and dinner and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The kitchen usually closes at 9 p.m. unless they are very busy, she said.
There is a full bar, a children's menu and an adult menu that includes salads, hot and cold sandwiches and burgers.
"We had all been looking for just the right place,'' she said.
