An overnight fire severely damaged a popular St. Paul restaurant, but the owners hope they’ll reopen.

The blaze at Schroeder’s Bar & Grill, 605 Front Ave., caused an estimated $250,000 in damage to the building and its contents, according to Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. The restaurant’s inside will “have to be totally gutted, there’s so much smoke and water damage,” said Quinn Schmitt, a son of Brad and Gail Schmitt, the owners.

Initial information is the restaurant will be shut for at least seven months to rebuild, Schmitt said.

“My parents worked hard in building this place and put a lot of money into it and … it goes up in flames,” Schmitt said. “It’s sad.”

The fire started in the kitchen area, Zaccard said. The cause remains under investigation, although it wasn’t immediately seen as suspicious, he said. No one was in the bar, which had closed at midnight.

Fans of the restaurant mourned the damage Wednesday.

“Oh, this one hurts. A lot,” wrote Greg Sax on Schroeder’s Facebook page, saying the place has the best Bloody Mary drinks and corned beef hash in the Twin Cities. “A North End staple goes down in flames.”

Schmitt said they also had heard from employees who are “devastated and upset. You can’t blame them — it’s their livelihood.”

A passing police officer reported the fire at Schroeder’s at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, and it took firefighters about 1 1/2 hours to extinguish it, Zaccard said.

“We’re just grateful no one was injured,” he said. “We’re very sorry for the loss to the business.”

Firefighters responding to the restaurant found flames coming from the roof at the back of the building.

They fought the fire for about 45 minutes from inside the building, but command staff ordered them out for their safety because the fire had them surrounded — it was in the walls, the ceiling and the attic, Zaccard said.

Firefighters went outside and used aerial streams of water to put out most of the fire. They then returned inside to extinguish the rest of it.

The outside temperature was 16 degrees, which resulted in treacherous conditions for firefighters to maneuver in because “everything gets covered with ice,” the fire marshal said.

Schroeder’s is at the intersection of Front Avenue, Como Avenue and Dale Street. A large mural on the side of the restaurant wasn’t damaged in the fire.

The restaurant is especially known for its homemade chicken pot pie special on Mondays. The location had been home to Jeraldine’s bar and restaurant for 30 years until longtime customers Brad and Gail Schmitt took it over in 2003. It became Schroeder’s, a nickname of Brad’s.

“It’s a funny little place in a funny little neighborhood,” said Sax, who started going there in 2006. “The people are just warm and friendly.”

Jess Fleming contributed to this report.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at mgottfried@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried. Joseph Lindberg can be reached at jlindberg@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5513. Follow him at twitter.com/JosephLindberg.