Michelle and Michael McKinnell, a mother and son, used to work a stand together at Southern Market. Michelle still runs that stand under the name Lemongrass. This month the two of them are opening Cozy Thai & Hawaiian, with seats for 60 inside and 30 on a patio. It's in the North Water Street space where Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse ran its restaurant for eight years.
For years, Water Street mostly read as the back of Gallery Row. Most of the galleries face North Prince Street. Water Street held the theater, a garage facade and the parking side of the block. In 2026 that started to change. The block's new apartment building was designed to face Water Street as much as Prince. The storefronts opening on the Water Street side are run by operators with Lancaster roots. And the business that has anchored the block the longest has cut back to its theater and distillery.
What Zoetropolis Kept At 112 North Water Street
The Zoetropolis restaurant served its last day on Aug. 2. LancasterOnline reported the closure and quoted the company's Facebook announcement:
"It is with great sadness that we are announcing the closure of the restaurant side of Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse. The laughter and tears of the past eight years will be part of our permanent memory."
The theater stayed open. Zoetropolis describes its programming as a curated rotation of indie films and live music. The post said the company would put its energy into the theater and its Lancaster Distilleries brand, which also has a stand at Lancaster Central Market and a tasting room in Columbia.
The Lancaster Distilleries bottle shop at Zoetropolis is still at 112 N. Water St. It's open Wednesday through Friday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. It's closed Monday and Tuesday. The old restaurant space also held a bar and the distillery's stills. A Zoetropolis managing partner told LancasterOnline the plan is to move the stills to the Columbia tasting room eventually.
That leaves a theater, a bottle shop and an empty restaurant room at the same address. Before Gallery 118 went up, the room would have opened onto the quiet side of the block. Today it sits across from the building that changed which side of the block faces outward.
A Building With Two Front Doors
Gallery 118 is a 72-unit apartment building at 118 N. Prince St., developed by Don Herman and Kirk Sears. Both are former executives of Mountville-based Lift Inc., and both now sit on its board. The building is six stories on Prince Street and seven on Water Street. LancasterOnline reported this spring that the first residents were due in April.
The Prince Street side keeps the preserved brick facade of the former Teachers Protective Mutual Life Insurance Co. building. On the Water Street side, the developers kept something easier to miss: the brick-arch front of a one-story garage that used to be attached to the insurance building. The approved plans kept that arch as retail frontage and as an entrance to a public walkway between Water and Prince streets.
The design by Maryland-based Alexander Design Studio puts a public pass-through park along the building's south side, linking the two streets. Part of that space is set aside as dining space for Passerine, the restaurant next door at 114 N. Prince St. A block that used to have one obvious front now has a built route between its two streets, with a retail bay at the Water Street end.
Herman explained his and Sears's interest in downtown to LancasterOnline:
"We like the food, we like the architecture, we like the culture, we like the diversity, and we've always wanted to have a larger part in that."
Who Is Taking The Water Street Storefronts
The retail bay behind the garage arch is 117 N. Water St. Philadelphia-based Ricci's Hoagies announced a franchise location there with a debut date of Oct. 21. The storefront is 1,400 square feet and seats 16. The franchisees are Lancaster city residents Brendalis Camacho and her husband, Marcus Fontanez. The menu is traditional Italian sandwiches made with hand-sliced meats and cheeses on rolls from Liscio's Italian Bakery in New Jersey. It runs from a traditional Italian and roast beef to Italian tuna and chicken cutlet hoagies.
Across the street, Cozy Thai & Hawaiian set a mid-November opening at 112 N. Water St., in the same complex as the Zoetropolis theater. Michael McKinnell will manage it. The menu includes dim sum, curry dishes and other Hawaiian- and Thai-inspired plates. The owners have applied for a liquor license and hope to add a tiki bar eventually.
A city couple running a 16-seat franchise and a mother and son moving up from a market stand to a 60-seat room are now running the Water Street storefronts. Here is the block's Water Street side, as of publication:
| Address | Business | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| 112 N. Water St. | Zoetropolis | Theater showing indie films and live music |
| 112 N. Water St. | Lancaster Distilleries bottle shop | Open Wed–Fri 4–10 p.m., Sat–Sun noon–10 p.m. |
| 112 N. Water St. | Cozy Thai & Hawaiian | Mid-November opening set; 60 seats inside, 30 on the patio |
| 117 N. Water St. | Ricci's Hoagies | Debut announced for Oct. 21; seats 16 |
| 118 N. Water St. | Friendship Heart Gallery & Studio | Gallery and studio |
Walking The Block From Prince To Water
Prince Street still carries the gallery side. Nooks Gallery & Bookshop at 112 N. Prince St. stayed open through Gallery 118's construction and grew its footprint during that time, LancasterOnline reported. Nooks lists Friday and Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Directly across the street, the city's visitor guide lists curio. Gallery & Creative Supply at 111 N. Prince St.
An evening loop of the block, in walking order, using addresses from the city's visitor guide and the reporting above:
- Start on Prince Street at curio., 111 N. Prince St., and cross to Nooks at 112 N. Prince St.
- Continue to Passerine at 114 N. Prince St., beside Gallery 118 and its planned pass-through park.
- Come out on Water Street at 117 N. Water St., the Ricci's storefront behind the old garage arch.
- Walk to 118 N. Water St. for Friendship Heart Gallery & Studio.
- Finish at 112 N. Water St., where the Zoetropolis theater, the Lancaster Distilleries bottle shop and the Cozy Thai & Hawaiian space share one complex.
A little farther up Prince Street, Karen Anderer Fine Art at 146 N. Prince St. and Red Raven Art Company at 138 N. Prince St. both took part in July's First Friday, along with curio, according to LancasterOnline's July roundup.
The Next First Friday Lands On December 4
Lancaster City's First Friday is still listed as the city's monthly arts-and-culture night. November's was held Nov. 6, and the next one is Friday, Dec. 4. The city's calendar for that night lists the McCaskey Combined Choirs at the Ware Center from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Friday hours line up well for the Water Street side of the block. The Lancaster Distilleries bottle shop is open until 10 p.m. on Fridays, three hours after Nooks closes at 7 p.m. That lets you see the Prince Street galleries early and finish on Water Street at the theater and bottle shop. Cozy Thai & Hawaiian's patio and Ricci's 16 seats are the block's newest options for food in between.
For eight years, Water Street had one restaurant, and it was attached to a movie theater. By December the same short stretch will have a hoagie shop behind a preserved garage arch, a Thai and Hawaiian restaurant from a Southern Market family, and a building designed to connect Water Street to Prince.
Denise Bollard follows changes like these on Gallery Row and across Lancaster. If you're curious how a new building and a turnover of storefronts can change the way a downtown block works day to day, schedule a consultation and we can talk through the streets you're watching.
