Pilot House restaurant on track to open in May: 'It's exciting building something new'

KENNEBUNK, Maine — The old Pilot House restaurant is demolished. The new one is on track to be finished. The countdown to its grand opening is under way.

Kylie Raymond, who owns the business on Harbor Lane, said on March 7 the new Pilot House will open in early May.

“It’s exciting to be building something new while at the same time, holding on to the connection we’ve made in the community,” she said.

The new restaurant is two stories tall, doubling the size of the original that for years served patrons nearby.

The first floor will be set up much like the original restaurant to preserve the atmosphere customers love, according to Raymond.

The second floor will be a wide-open dining area that seats 160 patrons, offers them a new, slightly more upscale seafood menu, and provides them with surrounding views of the Kennebunk River and more, Raymond added.

The restaurant’s core staff will be returning, Raymond said, and given the larger operation, more employees will be hired in the weeks ahead. Michael Somerset, the restaurant’s longtime chef, also is returning, she added.

The project, which began last summer, has three phases. So far, crews have checked off two of them: the old Pilot House has been torn down, and the Spirit of Massachusetts has been relocated from the river onto dry land. In November, onlookers were treated to this feat, when crews and cranes hoisted the schooner from the water and set it down onto a cradle next to where the new Pilot House was being built.

Raymond said the Spirit of Massachusetts will reopen as a restaurant a short while after the new Pilot House does. Once the main restaurant is finished, crews will turn their attention to the land-locked ship.

“We want to get her all fresh and painted,” Raymond said.

The Spirit of Massachusetts will have a bar, a raw bar, and sushi rolls, she added.

The 125-foot Spirit of Massachusetts was built at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in the state that is its namesake. The schooner’s launch was celebrated during a Tall Ships festival in Boston Harbor in 1984. From there, the ship served as a goodwill ambassador, sailing around the globe as an educational vessel. It was restored and brought to Kennebunk in 2014 and later became a popular floating restaurant on the river.

And then there’s that third and final phase. Curbing will be added on the site to direct stormwater runoff to bio-clean catch basin filters, which will be a new feature on the property, according to Raymond. The basins will intercept and treat stormwater before it goes into the Kennebunk River.

Raymond said this third phase will begin in the spring, once the weather is warm and the boats of the on-site marina can return to the water.

The project has largely enjoyed community support since Kylie and Nick Raymond, who comprise Kyick Holdings, LLC, saw their proposed reconfigurations through the town’s planning process. At the polls in 2022, voters approved a contract zone that allowed the project to proceed.

Laura Dolce, the executive director of the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce, spoke of the excitement around the Pilot House reopening and rejoining the local dining scene.

“The new Pilot House was built in the same spirit as the old one, and I’m sure will be a draw for locals and tourists alike,” Dolce said. “Kylie Raymond knows who her customers are and what they need: good food, great service, and the same friendly crowd. I’m sure the new Pilot House will be just as beloved as the old one.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Pilot House restaurant on track for May opening in Kennebunk