Owner Catherine Dethmers cleared another hurdle in her effort to reopen O'Cayz Corral Tuesday evening when the City Council approved a transfer of the establishment's liquor license to a new location at 701 E. Washington Ave.
The popular night spot had previously been located at 504 E. Wilson St., before fire damage forced the structure to be leveled in January.
Dethmers said she will now be able to begin renovations on the new building on Nov. 1, with an anticipated opening date in May or June of 2002.
'It was pretty much the last hurdle of a bunch of them,' Dethmers said of the Council approval, which followed an earlier recommendation from the city's Alcohol License Review Committee.
According to Dethmers, the new building, which O'Cayz will share with a dance club and a diner, will give the establishment twice the space it had at its previous location.
'We'll just be able to get some bigger national acts,' she said.
The East Wilson Street location suffered significant water, smoke and structural damage after a New Year's Day fire broke out at the adjacent Comic Strip Lounge, 502 E. Wilson St. That fire, the Madison Fire Department said, was caused by discarded smoking material in a trash can inside of the Comic Strip Lounge.
Both demolished buildings were owned by Cay's Corporation and were valued at more than $300,000.
