A café with an events space and an ice cream window is being planned in a west Lancaster city neighborhood.
The Pearl Café will take a spot at 420 Pearl St. that previously was the home of Commonwealth Kitchen & Café, which closed in February 2024.
The Pearl Café will use the former Commonwealth space but also expand into a connected warehouse, more than doubling its size and creating room for the events space and ice cream window. The menu at The Pearl Café will feature sandwiches, soups and salads.
The Pearl Café is owned by Drew Moore, who is also the owner of The Crowded Cookhouse, a community kitchen in Lancaster city at 347 N. Plum St., as well as a stand at Lancaster Central Market – Crowded Kitchen – which sells a variety of soup stocks and bone broths.
Moore owns the Pearl Street property which he bought in March 2022 for $735,000. Moore said he had originally considered the property as a possible new spot for a commercial kitchen, then put those plans on hold. For a time afterward, he was looking to sell the property, but ultimately decided to create his own café after Commonwealth moved out.
At The Pearl Café, Moore said there could be seating for more than 30 in the back area of the building that is now an underutilized warehouse. Moore said he hopes to put on movie nights and host acoustic bands, jazz groups or dance troupes for what he says will be “pretty low-key events.”
“We’re not looking to pack the place full of people,” he said.
In addition to the new inside seating at the back, there will be space for around 30 in the front where Commonwealth had been. Moore said he also plans to add some seating on the sidewalk along Prangley Avenue where the ice cream window will be installed and erect a pergola on the Pearl Street sidewalk to cover some outside tables there.
Moore said he hopes The Pearl Cafe can be open by the end of summer.
