A pair of Tacoma restaurant veterans are stripping a former McKinley Avenue dive bar down to its studs, aiming to open a scratch-kitchen diner and adjoining tavern before the holidays. Craig Tronset and Kylie Agostini are transforming the old Fergie's on the Ave space at 3504 E. McKinley Ave into Maxine's & The Well, with Tronset running the kitchen and Agostini overseeing the bar program.
The concept splits into two connected identities under one roof, according to WhatNow. Maxine's, named by Agostini after her grandmother, will handle diner and brunch service with small and medium plates, while The Well next door operates as the tavern side of the business. Tronset told the outlet the concept is not going full fine dining, even though the menu is still taking shape and everything will be prepared from scratch. Per the same report, the interiors will look distinct too, with Maxine's getting a lighter look and The Well leaning darker.
A Corbeau Reunion on McKinley Hill
Tronset and Agostini met while working together at Corbeau, the Proctor District restaurant where Tronset led the kitchen and Agostini managed the bar program, according to the same WhatNow report. Tronset's résumé there carries real weight: he helped Corbeau earn Tacoma's first Slow Food Snail of Approval in 2026, a recognition tied to the restaurant's commitment to local farm and seafood sourcing, according to VayaPin. Agostini built her own reputation in the same kitchen with a farm-to-bar cocktail program built around fresh, botanical ingredients like bell peppers, cilantro, and serrano dill hot sauce sourced from Tacoma's Proctor Farmers' Market, as detailed by PCC Community Markets. She previously brought that same bar-program approach to both Corbeau and Hilltop Kitchen, per WhatNow.
Before Corbeau, Tronset and co-owner Trevor Hamilton worked together at The Table, an acclaimed Tacoma restaurant whose team earned the city's first James Beard nomination before closing in 2023, according to Eater Seattle. That closure helped catalyze a wave of new culinary ventures launched by former staff across Tacoma neighborhoods, per the same historical account, and Maxine's & The Well now extends that lineage onto McKinley Avenue.
Renovating a Historic Streetcar Corridor
Fergie's on the Ave closed in August 2026, clearing the way for Tronset and Agostini's build-out, according to WhatNow. The owners are stripping the interior back to the walls, with plans to replace the flooring and repaint before reopening. The site sits in the McKinley Hill Mixed-Use Center less than a half-mile from the Tacoma Dome, surrounded by long-running neighborhood spots like Parable bookstore and Dusty's Hideaway, according to a LoopNet listing for the property.
McKinley Avenue itself is one of Tacoma's oldest commercial districts, having developed organically starting around 1903 after a streetcar line was installed, according to the City of Tacoma Historic Preservation Office. The corridor has continued to evolve in recent years; 84-year-old dive bar Parky's Tavern converted into Parky's Pizza Bar in 2021 while keeping its neighborhood atmosphere, according to the Weekly Volcano. The City of Tacoma's official McKinley Hill Neighborhood Plan has also guided public infrastructure investment along the avenue, including traffic-calming bulb-outs at Division Lane, street tree plantings, and business district capacity grants.
Health Codes Shape the Menu
Maxine's & The Well is constrained by Pierce County health requirements and kitchen refrigeration capacity as the menu takes shape, per WhatNow's reporting. Those constraints trace back to strict local rules: Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department regulations require all food establishments holding time and temperature control foods to keep cold items at or below 41°F, a standard that dictates commercial refrigeration capacity during kitchen plan reviews, according to a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department bulletin. Opening a restaurant in Tacoma also requires dual permits from both the county health department and the city's Planning and Development Services department, with major floor plan remodels triggering building occupancy recalculations and plumbing reviews, according to Tacoma Permits.
The owners plan to reveal more details as the opening gets closer, according to WhatNow, with regular specials expected once the doors open, per reporting from The News Tribune cited in that account. The project also fits a broader pattern in the city's dining scene: regional real estate and dining reporting in 2025 noted a trend of prominent Tacoma chefs and mixologists opening brick-and-mortar concepts in residential Eastside neighborhoods rather than sticking to traditional downtown or waterfront hubs, according to Native Real Estate. Maxine's & The Well is targeting a December opening, joining that shift toward historic neighborhood corridors like McKinley Hill.
