Zamboni’s on Seventh, the sports bar and pizza joint across the street from Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul, is expanding. The St. Paul City Council approved a proposal on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, that lets the restaurant grow into the vacant space next door and open a new concept called Zim’s.
What St. Paul Approved for Zim’s
Co-owner Gregory Awada submitted the expansion proposal to the city council in August. The plan connects the existing Zamboni’s at 174 7th St. W. to the empty storefront at 184 7th St. W. Today, a brick wall separates the two spaces.
Zim’s will be its own bar and restaurant, but it will share ownership with Zamboni’s. Awada plans to finance the build-out through a new LLC, which will then contract with Zamboni’s original LLC to handle food and liquor service at Zim’s.
A Familiar Space With a Long History
If the address next door sounds familiar, it should. The roughly 1,000-square-foot space was home to Zamboni’s Pizza Pub for 13 years. It sits between today’s Zamboni’s and Ticket King on West Seventh.
In late 2023, Awada and co-owner Kristi Brunner partnered with Tim Mahoney, owner of The Loon Café, to move Zamboni’s into the much larger space next door. That space had been home to Eagle Street Grille for two decades before it closed earlier that year. So Zim’s is essentially the original Zamboni’s room getting a second life.
What the Expansion Includes
The proposal calls for three main pieces of work:
- A passageway through the brick wall, located in the back right corner of the current Zamboni’s
- A new 40-foot bar
- An added bathroom
With the extra space, Zamboni’s total footprint grows to about 6,000 square feet, based on a floor plan Awada drew up. Awada is still searching for an architect, so no construction timeline or opening date has been announced yet.
Why This Matters for West Seventh and the Twin Cities
A vacant storefront on one of downtown St. Paul’s busiest stretches is about to be put back to work. Empty storefronts near an arena tend to stand out on event nights, so filling one with an active bar and restaurant adds energy to the block for everyone walking past.
There’s also something to like about the approach. Instead of building new, the owners are reusing a space with real history and connecting it to a business that already draws a crowd. For longtime St. Paul residents, it keeps a piece of the neighborhood’s story in place rather than turning it over to an unknown tenant.
For anyone who follows Twin Cities dining, the next things to watch are the architect hire and the build-out timeline. Those details will tell you when you can actually grab a seat at that 40-foot bar. If you’re interested in how local businesses shape the feel of a neighborhood, check out [INTERNAL LINK: relevant blog post or listings page].
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