Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin is one of the potential business partners involved in an effort to buy the former Beef O'Brady's restaurant building on Hay Street.

That deal is pending, said John Malzone, the downtown broker who is handling the potential real estate sale of the corner building that dates to around 1900. For years, it was home to downtown's S.H. Kress 5 & 10 cent store.

"The loan is ready to close but hasn't closed yet," he said. "That's why I can't say who owns it. I've negotiated a lease on a big chunk of the first floor. A restaurant."

Pending closing, Malzone added, he's got a signed lease with restaurateur Jon Schmier, who would open his second Rustic Burger location on the first floor of the corner building. A bank, too, would share the first-floor space that in recent years has been home to the pub chain Beef O'Brady's, the Legendz restaurant, the Wing Company Downtown and, for a brief time, the Third Base restaurant.

The building, at 229 Hay St., has been empty since Third Base closed along the middle part of May.

As envisioned, the Rustic Burger would take up about 3,500 square feet of the 5,000-square-foot space that Beef O'Brady's once occupied. The bank would operate from roughly 1,500 square feet.

As for the upstairs, Malzone said, "The second floor is projected to be what we call venue space. Venue space is going to have two spaces on that. There will be about 3,500 square feet and another 1,500 square feet rented separately or connected. That's going to be a big construction project. We're excited about that, too. It will be good use of that location."

The original Rustic Burger is at 2653 Hope Mills Road in Fayetteville. Schmier owns the business with his wife, Trista. Rustic Burger, which opened in June 2018, features 16 hamburgers, ranging from BBQ Pulled Pork to The Queso to Guac & Jack.

The Schmiers could not be immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

"They do a lot of customer service, and he works hard on training folks," Malzone said. "And the burgers are damn good. I had a monster burger. I pride myself on having a big mouth. I do a lot of talking. I could not fit that thing in my mouth."

Just last month, the Schmiers told an Observer reporter that they were currently in talks to open another restaurant, in downtown Fayetteville, by April.

On Wednesday, Colvin replied "affirmative" when asked if he was one of the partners in the potential sale. He described the group as a "partnership."

"I don't have anything to say about that right now," he said, when asked if he could provide additional details on those who are involved and their intentions.

Malzone would not name any of the business partners, and that included Colvin: "I can't say. I never talk about stuff until it's a done deal. It's not closed. As soon as it closes," he added, without completing the thought.

Colvin's family owns and operates Colvin Funeral Home and Crematory on Murchison Road and on Elizabethtown Road in Lumberton.

The property owners of the former Beef O'Brady's building are Garry and Elaine Thaine, who run the Bridal & Formal Center on Sycamore Dairy Road. He said everybody keeps asking him what's going to happen to that shuttered building at the corner of Hay and Maxwell streets.

"I say, 'As soon as somebody comes up with a checkbook,' " he said with a guffaw.

Apparently, "somebody" has — including the mayor of Fayetteville — and the waiting continues on the pending sale to close.

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at mfutch@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3529.