Tre Luna owners buy the Theodore building in downtown Birmingham

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Businesses

Brian and Erin Mooney, owners of Tre Luna Bar & Kitchen in Hoover and Tre Luna Catering, have bought the nearly century-old Theodore building in downtown Birmingham, the couple announced Thursday morning to the Hoover Small Business Alliance.

The building at 3211 Second Ave. S. was built in 1929 and had been converted into event space in 2017, Brian Mooney said. He and his wife were approached then about taking on the liquor license for Theodore but had just taken over the liquor license for the Alys Stephens Center and didn’t want to take two new ones on at the same time, he said.

When the building went up for sale again last year, the Mooneys put a bid in for it, but they were second in line, he said. They thought they weren’t going to get it but were approached again in mid-December when the first offer fell through, he said.

They ended up closing on the sale March 31 and are planning to continue to use the building for weddings, rehearsal dinners, corporate gatherings and private celebrations.

“This was the easiest thing we’ve ever done,” Mooney said.

The Mooneys were able to get a Small Business Administration loan through River Bank and Trust with the help of Brian Ethridge, he said.

Erin Mooney said Tre Luna Catering is just 3½ blocks away and that, while there are no current plans to move the catering company to the Theodore, they may at some point in the future build out the catering kitchen there and move all their catering operations there.