By Will Wright | Assistant news editor

wwright@kykernel.com

The UK and Lexington landmark restaurant, Ramsey’s, will relocate its original East High Street location to a shopping center off of Nicholasville Road.

Owner Rob Ramsey confirmed Monday that he is leaving the worn-out building for a large new kitchen and dining area that should be open between Feb. 6 and 10 at 151 Zandale Drive.

“I really regret leaving what’s a Lexington icon,” Ramsey said. “It’s my baby.”

Ramsey is well aware of his connection to UK. After 24 years on the corner of East High Street and Woodland Avenue, just a minute’s walk from campus, he said he hopes students continue to come for lunch and apply for work in the new location.

“I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t realize to some extent I’ve built a connection with the university,” Ramsey said. “I’d be very fortunate to transfer 100 percent of that to the new location.”

About 55 people, including UK students, work at Ramsey’s, but no one will lose a job due to the move, Ramsey said.

“We have served millions of millions of meals, and in the process that building is just worn out,” Ramsey said. “(The new location) is a better environment for our employees to work in and a safer environment to serve food in.”

Bill Wassmer, owner of Wassmer Properties that owns the property and building at 498 E. High St., said businesses are already calling to put a claim on the property.

“Everybody in this town knows it’s a killer location,” Wassmer said. “Apparently a lot of other people think it’s a very valuable location because my phone has been blowing up all morning.”

Though the new restaurant is less than five miles from the East High Street location, some students were discouraged at news of the move.

On Sunday before the relocation had been confirmed, Katelin Alford, a UK kinesiology junior, said she would be upset if it were true.

Alford ate a late lunch at Ramsey’s with mechanical engineering junior Troy Soileau on Sunday, and they both worried that the move would hurt the business.

Alford hoped that the homey atmosphere of the restaurant, from the worn down chairs to the country-style decorations, would not be lost during the moving process.

“Just don’t get all chain on us,” Alford said.

Many of the chairs and decorations, including star UK quarterback Tim Couch’s jersey, will be moved to the new location, Ramsey said, but additions like a drive-thru pickup window for take-out orders will allow Ramsey’s to fit in with the new neighborhood.

The new Ramsey’s on Zandale will also continue accepting Plus Account, he said.

UK family science graduate Emily Kight said Ramsey’s was a go-to spot when her family came to visit, and it will remain that way though the restaurant will relocate.

“They might lose the people that are regulars just because it’s convenient, but I don’t think people will stop going just because that one location is closed,” she said.

“For me … it’s part of my UK experience.”

Though the East High Street location was the original and the only one within walking distance from campus, it was not the busiest, Ramsey said.

“People come to Ramsey’s for the food,” Ramsey said. “High Street had its character. Unfortunately, the character was falling through the floor.”