Cafe the newest tenant at renovated Cape hotel

When Christo Chriss first toured the Marquette Hotel about a year ago, he just couldn't see it.

Months before the renovation of the Cape Girardeau landmark had been initiated, Chriss and his wife, Terre Chriss, were looking for a new location for their rapidly growing Gatherings Catering business. As they toured the abandoned hotel, Christo Chriss tried to envision the halls as leasing agent Tom M. Meyer described them. But what he saw were dirt-covered floors and chipped-plaster walls of a largely neglected 75-year-old hotel.

While her husband doubted, Terre Chriss was sharing Meyer's vision. That's why now that the vision has been fleshed out, the Chrisses are getting ready to open their new Gatherings Cafe in the southwest corner shop and lobby of the new Marquette Tower.

"I knew it was going to be beautiful," Terre Chriss said. "I drug Christo along and it went from 'No way!' to where we are today."

The Chrisses have just signed a lease for the corner shop and lobby of the hotel to host the newest incarnation of their business. It will serve a twofold purpose as a new Gatherings Cafe, from which they will serve breakfast, brunch, lunch and dessert; and as a new base for their expanding Gatherings Catering gig, which they started out of their Millersville home in the fall of 2003.

The couple moved to Southeast Missouri from the San Francisco Bay area in 2001. They had come here with intentions of retiring, but when the stock market went sour and investments fell through, the pair decided to go into business for themselves. Combining Terre Chriss' experience as a floral designer with a knack for the aesthetics and Christo Chriss' experience as a gourmet cook, the catering business was an easy transition. They converted part of their home into an industrial kitchen and set to work providing area clients with what they term "delicious home-cooked entrees served with a touch of elegance and sophistication."

That business quickly took off, so much so that it quickly overtook their household. Soon it became obvious that a larger facility was needed.

"The historical charm of the Marquette Hotel makes this the perfect location for this type of restaurant and bakery services," Terre Chriss said.

To complement this charm, the Chrisses plan to decorate the corner restaurant as an updated 1920s-style cafe, complete with a tin ceiling. From here they will serve baked goods, hot breakfasts, hot lunches and eventually dinner. Coffees, smoothies and deserts will also be offered.

Outside of the cozy corner shop, the Chrisses will also make use of the adjacent Marquette lobby for traditional Sunday brunches and special private gatherings catered by Gatherings. With the shop and lobby combined, the new setting will seat more than 130 people. They've already rented out the grand lobby for several functions in the past weeks as the shop construction is finished up.

With the state agencies upstairs settled in and the LoDo's Martini Bar now open across from Gatherings Cafe, Meyer estimates that 90 percent of space at the Marquette Tower is now leased. Construction on the last piece of the Gatherings corner shop puzzle is now being finished, and the Chrisses expect the cafe to serve customers by mid- to late January.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137