Bambino's owner searching for new location

COLUMBIA — Bambino’s Italian Cafe owner Brian Ash no longer plans to relocate his business to a home off West Broadway when his lease expires in 2010.

Ash currently has no new locations in mind but is continuing his search. He told the Columbia Daily Tribune in January that he was considering moving the restaurant from its location at 203 Hitt St. to a home he planned to renovate on the corner of West Broadway and Clinton Drive.

Ash said since then plans have fallen through. He lost the neighboring homeowners’ support, which he needed to provide adequate parking and sewer services for the restaurant. He would have had to rezone the property — which is currently zoned as residential — for commercial use.

Ash is looking for a new location because MU owns the land and does not have plans to renew his leasing contract. According to Christian Basi of the MU News Bureau, the university is in the process of determining what to do with the property.