Coyote Grille, a riverside restaurant at the Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center's river campus, has closed.

Nature center officials announced that as of Tuesday their relationship with Salaz Enterprises, which operated the restaurant, is ending.

The Coyote Grille was located at the city-owned Nature Center property for close to a decade.

The center needs to use the space occupied by the restaurant to house the Earthkeeper Nature School for young children and as classroom space for a separate program for fifth graders, as well as a gift shop. The decision between Nature Center officials and Salaz Enterprises to part ways was mutual, said Patty Kester, the interim executive director of the Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center.

"We can use it for classroom space. We hope to put our gift shop back in there and get it going. Those are the kinds of things we want to do with the space," she said. "There are some mornings in the wintertime at the river campus that it is too cold for the little ones in preschool and in kindergarten to be outdoors — and we need the space for that."

Salaz Enterprises could not be reached for comment on the matter Wednesday.

Because the building has served as a restaurant for years, renovations are expected.

The Nature Center would not be renting out the riverfront building to any business in the future.

rseverance@chieftain.com

Twitter: @RyanS_Chieftain