Monday brought a pledge that paczkis will once again be prepared and sold in the old Dainty Maid Bakery building in downtown South Bend.

There are only 92 days to go before Fat Tuesday. While the building may not be back in business that fast, it will be back in business.

On Monday, scaffolding stood outside 231 S. Michigan St. The rehab is underway.

While the project is no piece of cake, it promises to be a work of art.

“There will be a big mural on that wall,” said Ben Miller of Dainty Maid Co. “And that mural is going to be a mix and match of the old baking tins.”

Some huge oven gears will become chandeliers, and the old wood flooring will be used to create tables.

“We'll have the three tenants, the pastry chef, the breakfast and brunch restaurant, and then a coffee place will be here throughout the mornings and the afternoons, maybe into the early evenings,” Miller explained.

The breakfast and brunch place will be the restaurant called Baker and Rose.

“We had opened in the Emporium building for about a year and we were at a point where we just needed a little bit more space, a bigger kitchen, and we’re really excited to be part of the growth of downtown and be part of this building which has all this history,” Kevin Lawler said.

Miller is a Notre Dame alumnus who stayed in town after school. He is now overseeing the project to wake up the echoes and odors at Dainty Maid.

As for Miller’s dinner plans, “This will be an event place. A place for pop-up restaurants, new concepts to kind of try out what they're doing and just a place to kind of a home base or landing place for people to try out new things new concepts.”

Lawler hopes to bring his South Bend Burger Society event to the building.

“And I think this will give chefs that opportunity here. They’ll be able to come in on a limited, you know, time basis and test out their recipes, you know, promote their business to customers and kind of work out the kinks,” he said.

With the drop ceiling and a wall removed, the new and improved Dainty Maid building will seat more than 100 guests.

The renovation is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

Dainty Maid’s presence in downtown South Bend dates back to 1928. The business moved into the building at 231 S. Michigan in 1967.

Dainty Maid closed when the owner died in 2016. A company called Cops and Donuts bought the business but closed in November of 2017.