Tina Marie’s, destroyed in December 2020 fire, is making a comeback — and doubling in size, property owner says

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – Like a Phoenix, she rises. Tina Marie’s, the popular coffee shop on Chester Avenue that burned down two and half years ago, is coming back.

Property owner Sherman Gross tells KGET that construction work is underway to build a new restaurant in the burned out shell of the structure – and this time it’ll be bigger and better.

Gross said the $2 million project will more than double the size of the restaurant, from about 3,000 square feet to 6,500 square feet. Gross said the work – delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic – is on “fast forward” and should be complete in about 10 months.

But what becomes of Tina Marie’s location at 19th and Eye streets, where owner Tina Marie Brown moved her operation after the fire? Gross, who also owns that building, said he expects Brown to keep that location, rebranding one of the two restaurants in a manner to be announced later.