44 Ionia SW.jpg

Menna's Joint, a college-town eatery that makes burrito-like wraps called 'dubs' is opening a location in this downtown Grand Rapids space at 44 Ionia Ave. SW.

(Garret Ellison | MLive)

Menna's cooks Nick Blount (foreground) and Mark Howsen prepare the restaurant's main fare: grilled, wrapped sandwiches called "dubs" at the 2006 opening of Menna's Joint in Kalamazoo.

Update: Menna's opens this week

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Brace yourselves: “Dubs” are coming.

Menna's Joint, a Livingston County-based burrito restaurant chain popular with college students, is moving into one of the last prime retail spaces available along the burgeoning Heartside entertainment district on Ionia Ave. SW.

Colliers International broker Mark Ansara said the eatery is opening in early October at 44 Ionia Ave. SW, in the southernmost ground floor space in the six-story Weston Place Apartments building, which is owned by nonprofit housing developer Dwelling Place.

Interior build-out is underway for the 1,800-square foot eatery, which sells grilled burrito-like wrap sandwiches, called "dubs," available by take-out, dine-in or delivery. The company caters to the college crowd in design and attitude.

Ansara said the company, which started in East Lansing in 2003, was drawn to downtown Grand Rapids due to the population of college students living in the city attending schools like Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids Community College and Kendall College of Art & Design.

Current Menna’s Joint locations include Kalamazoo, Allendale, East Lansing and Mount Pleasant.

“They are on all the college campuses, plus they want to feed off the entertainment district,” said Ansara, who represented Dwelling Place in the deal.

The company signed a five-year lease with extension options, he said. The location will be a corporately-owned store.

The ground-floor commercial space at 44 Ionia represents some of the last available retail space on Ionia Ave SW, Ansara said. It previously housed office tenants like Senior Neighbors, which moved to Division Avenue and Goodrich Street in 2005.

The upper floors are subsidized apartment units.

Ansara said Colliers is negotiating with a potential tenant for the rest of the 4,100 square feet of retail space in the building.

Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter.