Zamboni's on 7th is growing right back into the space where it all started. The St. Paul sports bar across from Grand Casino Arena is expanding into the vacant storefront next door, a 1,000-square-foot spot that will become a new connected concept called Zim's, following St. Paul City Council approval.
The council's sign-off, reported Thursday, October 15, by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, approves the project. Zim's will take over 184 7th St. W., a storefront wedged between Zamboni's current location at 174 7th St. W. and Ticket King, directly across the street from the arena.
Connecting the Two Spaces
A passageway will connect the two spaces, according to the same report.
There's a sense of coming full circle built into the project. Greg and his wife Kristi began operating Zamboni's Pizza Pub in the 184 7th St. W. space in 2011.
A Family Name Nearly a Century in St. Paul Hospitality
The Awada name carries a long history in the city's bar and restaurant scene. According to Explore Minnesota, Gregory Awada's grandfather, George Awada, was granted one of St. Paul's first post-Prohibition liquor licenses back in 1933, and the family has operated restaurants and bars across the city for roughly nine decades since.
The current Zamboni's reflects that lineage while also drawing on newer partnerships. When the bar expanded into its present location in late 2023, Awada and Brunner teamed up with Tim Mahoney, owner of Minneapolis's Loon Cafe, blending Zamboni's pizzas and gyros with Loon Cafe dishes like the Pecos River Red Chili and the 8-Ball chicken sandwich, Explore Minnesota notes. Today's Zamboni's on 7th already sprawls across four bars and six distinct dining and banquet areas, accommodating more than 300 guests on busy arena nights.
New LLC Will Handle the Financing, Not the Kitchen
The business structure behind Zim's keeps operations tied closely to the existing restaurant. Per Awada's municipal filing, the expansion will be financed through a loan taken out under a newly formed LLC, which will then contract Zamboni's original operating LLC to run food and beverage service inside Zim's — delegating the day-to-day work to the team already running the place next door.
The project also lands amid a broader push to fill downtown St. Paul storefronts. The Saint Paul Downtown Alliance's Grow Downtown initiative, launched in 2022 to pair building owners with small business operators, has helped 18 local storefront businesses get going since it began, according to St. Paul Publishing. Zim's will occupy a storefront previously used by an earlier iteration of Zamboni's, adding one more filled storefront to that stretch of 7th Street.
No opening date for Zim's has been announced, and it remains unclear how the menu or theme will be distinguished from its next-door sibling once the passageway connecting the two spaces is complete.
