It’s been, oh, 30 seconds since yet another seismic change hit the North Avenue bar district on Milwaukee’s East Side. And while today’s news isn’t the complete shuttering of a longtime staple (R.I.P. Hotel Foster, BBC, Yield, Hotch, etc.), it is confirmation that the once-hopping neighborhood is going through some changes.

Yes, Von Trier, Milwaukee’s favorite German-centric bar since 1978, is ditching its steins and Colnik chandeliers and transforming itself into an “upscale, mid-century modern cocktail lounge reminiscent to Rieder’s, the cocktail lounge that called the North Ave location home in the decades before Von Trier.” The rebranding is planned for early 2018. Sigh.

“The North Ave. neighborhood has been going through a period of change for the last five years,” says co-owner John Sidoff in a press release. “While our original intent was to maintain Von Trier through retirement, the reality is, despite discussions with many Milwaukee bar/restaurant owners, there is little interest in taking over the bar and continuing the tradition.”

Von Trier will remain open through the holiday season, and will then auction off its extensive collection of memorabilia, including “authentic beer steins, one-of-a-kind wood carvings, and the historic Colnik chandelier.”

“I have a deep connection to roots of North Ave and Milwaukee’s east side,” says Sidoff, “which is why I want to focus on re-inventing the bar by bringing it back to an upscale cocktail lounge concept, just like the one I spent time in during my formative years. This new evolution of the bar will better support the evolving clientele and businesses of the North Avenue district.”

A petition has already been created to keep Von Trier the way it is. A full press release on the transformation is below.