The old stone building near the corner of Glade Road and Hwy. 26 was once home to Colleyville's first mayor and a gathering place for the first City Council and Colleyville Garden Club meetings more than 50 years ago.

The owners of Next Wood Fired Bistro & Vino Bar have grand visions of restoring the 3,980-square-foot building to its original appearance and transforming it into a restaurant and gathering place for city residents to dine on lobster, shrimp and steak.

"It is an asset of Colleyville as far as we are concerned, and we want to keep it that way," owner Tom Aikens told the City Council. "We want to enhance it, make it better for the city, the community and everyone around, and hopefully draw other citizens from our friendly neighbors to come patronize our town of Colleyville."

The Colleyville City Council on June 5 approved a special use permit for on-premise alcoholic beverage sales on the property. Tom and Ying Aikens are remodeling the existing building at 710 Glade Road into a fine dining restaurant to be called "The Old Mayor's House Fine Dining." Alternative Health Center occupied the building until the couple purchased it in February.

According to an historical marker on the site, Ernest and Florence Gleason Eudaly owned two acres of farm on the current site. In 1956, Eudaly was elected the first mayor of Colleyville with only 77 votes. The mayor conducted council meetings in his living room. His wife organized one of the city's oldest clubs, the Colleyville Garden Club, and held meetings there.

"This is really where Colleyville first started," Tom Aikens said. "It is just a beautiful property, but it just needs some love and care, which it hasn't had for a while."

The Aikens transformed a former pizza establishment located across the street into the popular Mediterranean restaurant Next Wood Fired Bistro & Vino Bar. An extension of Next, the new restaurant will eventually feature a menu of seafood and seasonal foods, a bar, an outdoor patio and an organic garden.

"To me, this is a treasure of Colleyville," said Ying Aikens, owner and executive chef of Next. "People can come here to retreat or relax and enjoy nature."

Plans are to open the restaurant in mid-2013, and the Aikens have a lot of work to do.

In recent months, the property has undergone renovations. Workers have pruned trees and manicured the lawn. A wrought iron fence was recently installed around the property. Inside the building, the walls and the floors were torn down, exposing wooden beams. The Aikens plan to maintain the historic nature of the building by using the original oak wooden floors and entry doors, but also plan to overhaul the building's infrastructure to bring it up to city standards.

The Aikens' vision is for the restaurant to become host to a variety of special events such as weddings, art festivals and bar mitzvahs.

"We are hoping you have a successful restaurant," Mayor David Kelly said.