Photo by Deb Gau Chef Ronnie Walker has been getting hands-on with renovations to the restaurant space at Main Street and College Drive in Marshall.

MARSHALL — People have definitely taken an interest in the renovation work being done at the former Bello Cucina restaurant space. They often stop to peek in through the windows, Ronnie Walker said.

“I think a lot of people were excited,” said Walker, chef of the new Atlantic Place restaurant.

But that was a good thing. Walker said he wanted his business to be a welcoming place.

“I want to keep it approachable to everyone in the community,” Walker said Wednesday. “I want everyone to feel like they’re welcome.”

Atlantic Place will hopefully open in November, Walker said. First, he said, “We have a lot of stuff to do.”

While the renovations aren’t finished yet, the restaurant is taking shape.

Development for Atlantic Place has been going on since this summer, when building owners Knochenmus Enterprises announced a new restaurant would be coming at the corner of Main Street and College Drive. Walker said the name “Atlantic Place” is a tribute to the building the restaurant is in, which started out as the New Atlantic Hotel in 1927.

Walker said Atlantic Place will have a chef-driven menu, with food made from scratch.

“I’m trying to utilize our local resources here,” he said.

The Marshall area offers a lot of connections to farmers and locally produced ingredients, he said.

Walker is a former chef and instructor at the culinology and hospitality management programs at Southwest Minnesota State University. He created Taste, the student-operated restaurant at SMSU that gained some momentum last year.

Walker said he’s still on good terms with the university, but he was also excited for the new restaurant. The opportunity was “spectacular,” he said.

Together with local contractors, Walker has been doing a lot of hands-on work with the restaurant renovations. On Wednesday, the restaurant space was still a work in progress. Walker said some of the changes made for Atlantic Place have included removing part of a wall and opening up the dining space, adding fresh paint and refinishing floors.

“We had to make it our own,” Walker said. While Bello Cucina had a Tuscan look with lots of green and earth-tone colors, the color palette for Atlantic Place would include more gray and white, Walker said. Accents like patterned tiles have been installed in areas like the front of the bar. Walker said he also chose a contemporary style for Atlantic Place’s furniture.

Walker said it’s been a great experience to be able to work together with local contractors and Knochenmus Enterprises to get Atlantic Place started.

“I don’t know if I could have done it without them,” he said.

Atlantic Place isn’t the only new development going on in the New Atlantic Hotel building. The two upper floors are in the process of being renovated into new offices for Ralco, and a new wedding and event center called The Upper Room.