The historic Wunsche Bros. Cafe & Saloon building has stood since 1902 at the same location in Spring.[/caption]

The historic Wunsche Bros. Cafe & Saloon on Midway Street, which closed in 2015 because of fire damage, was sold on March 20 to the owners of Amerigo’s Grille in The Woodlands for an undisclosed amount, real estate broker Cam Collins said.

Collins’ company, The Villages Group, represented both parties in the sale.

The new owner of the building, the Kosh family, said after the sale that it aims for a spring 2018 reopening and will preserve the restaurant’s familiar look and menu.

“We are dedicated to preserving the traditions that longtime guests of the Wunsche Bros. Cafe have come to know and love,” the Kosh family said.

The Wunsche Bros. Cafe & Saloon was first opened in 1902 and changed ownership and names several times over the next century.  It was closed in March 2015 after it had sustained significant damage in a fire. The building is structurally sound but requires repair from smoke damage.

An extension that was added to the building in the 1980s will be razed and rebuilt, Collins said.

A condition of the sale required any potential purchasers of the historic building to retain the restaurant name, theme and exterior, Collins said. The building was designated as a historic structure in 1984 by the state of Texas.

In recent years, the restaurant had been known for serving comfort food under its original name of Wunsche Bros. Cafe & Saloon, including hamburgers, chicken-fried steak, catfish and beer bread.

Collins said the family envisions the restaurant as a focal point for the rebirth of Old Town Spring.

“It will be like it was before, only grander and better,” he said.