Favorite Wichita restaurant has to leave its home of 26 years. Owner hunting for new spot.

Nabil Bacha says he’s known in the back of his mind that he was going to have to make a tough decision about Cafe Bel Ami — the elegant downtown restaurant he’s owned since 1998.

In a way, he said, he was in denial and really didn’t want to face it.

But now, as the weather begins to warm up, he said, he can’t put it off any longer. Bacha — whose long history with Wichita restaurants started in the 1980s at Antoine Toubia’s famous Cafe Chantilly — says he has to close the restaurant at 229 E. William.

The closure won’t be permanent though, he said. He has brokers scouring Wichita for a new spot for the restaurant, which first opened in O’Rourke Title Building — the historic onetime site of the McClellan Hotel — 26 years ago.

“So it’s in their hands,” he said, “As soon as they find something, we will be moving Bel Ami.”

The issue, Bacha said, is the building’s air conditioning. It’s been failing for years and has gone out twice in the past two years. In fact, it hasn’t been working since September.

The building’s new owner, Marv Shellenberg of Schellenberg Development Company, has been more than accommodating, Bacha said. But repairing the air conditioning for the building is going to be a complicated, 14-month project that will involve ripping out ceilings. They discussed all kinds of workarounds but couldn’t find one that made sense for Cafe Bel Ami’s business.

Bacha only recently admitted defeat to himself. He informed his staff of his decision this week.

People still have a little time to dine at Cafe Bel Ami before it takes its hiatus — but not much. Bacha hasn’t targeted an exact closing date. He plans to keep going until the weather gets into the 80s and the temperature inside becomes too uncomfortable. He hopes to make it to May but is at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Bacha said another factor in his decision to move was his reluctance to ask customers to fight all the construction that’s about to erupt around his building and would make parking nearly impossible. Shellenberg and his partners are also planning to overhaul the Petroleum Building next door to Cafe Bel Ami, and Wichita State University, the KU School of Medicine and WSU Tech will soon break ground on an eight story biomedical center on the parking lot across the street.

“It’s going to be chaotic with all of the construction,” Bacha said. “It’s going to be madness over there.”

Bacha said that Shellenberg told him he can return to his current spot once all the repairs are made, and Bacha hasn’t ruled that option out. It all depends on whether he finds another property behind now and then.

Ideally, he said, he’d move to a spot on the east side where he could recreate Cafe Bel Ami’s upscale, old-world feel. So far, he hasn’t been able to find such a place.

Bacha started as a busboy at Cafe Chantilly, a Wichita favorite at 6921 E. Kellogg that closed in 1993. A Lebanon native, he immigrated to Wichita from his home in Kuwait when he was 18 years old with the intention of earning a degree at Wichita State University.

He found a job at Cafe Chantilly, and it wasn’t long until owner Toubia recognized his new busboy’s culinary potential. Bacha rose quickly through the ranks and was the manager of the restaurant during the final three of his eight years there. He followed that with a stint managing Toubia’s company Latour’s food service contract with Cessna.

He struck out on his own in 1998, opening Cafe Bel Ami and building a loyal clientele with his French-inspired Mediterranean dishes served in a quiet, elegant dining room.

Stay tuned for more information as Bacha continues his real estate hunt.

In the meantime, he encourages his longtime customers to stop by for a last taste at Broadway and William.

“The sooner, the better,” he said.

This Wichita restaurant has been around for 30 years. Soon, it will move to a new home.

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