MERRIMACK – A family-owned, American-fare restaurant called The Homestead Restaurant and Tavern is poised to open this summer in the former Silo’s Steakhouse building.

An entity called 641 DW Highway LLC purchased the historic red barn building earlier this month. 641 is an entity of Homestead Restaurant Inc., a corporation that owns The Homestead Restaurant in Bristol and the Fratello’s franchise, which has three locations in New Hampshire.

Mark, Chris and Mike McDonough, partners in the corporation, have been looking for a new location in the southern part of the state, Mark McDonough said.

“We like to find old, unique, New England-style farmhouses and turn them into restaurants,” Mark McDonough said, noting the classic characteristics of wide pine floors, exposed beams and fireplaces. “We like unique architecture to set buildings apart from the chains and big box places.”

This tradition started in 1978, when William and Carolyn McDonough opened The Homestead Restaurant in Bristol, the former home of a revolutionary war soldier and the oldest house in town.

Ten years later, the couple wanted to retire, so their sons took over the business in Bristol. They later opened a second Homestead location in Londonderry. (That is now a separate entity called The Coach Stop Restaurant, owned by a fourth brother, Steve McDonough).

The brothers then forged into Italian-style restaurants with open-kitchen concepts and wood-fired ovens. They opened the first Fratello’s in the former Indian Head Bank in Laconia, followed years later by a location at a former shoe factory in the Manchester mills. Four years ago, a third Fratello’s opened at a former pulp factory in Lincoln.

Recently, the brothers had been thinking about opening another Fratello’s, but when a friend flagged their attention to the historic Daniel Webster Highway property, they decided it would be a good fit for a “Homestead” concept.

Plus, McDonough said, the building has plenty of visibility – especially with the new airport access road going in just north of the restaurant

“Silo’s made good sense,” McDonough said. “There’s a lot of history to the building.”

Built in 1790, the structure was part of the original Smith Farm and is a fixture on the town’s heritage tour of Reeds Ferry.

In 1994, Dean and Susanne Robbins opened Silo’s there, a two-level, 140-seat steakhouse where customers could sit in the hayloft for views of the original post and beam work.

Susanne Robbins put the property up for sale in January. The McDonough brothers bought it in early April for $430,000, according to the town’s assessing department, plus $100,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment.

“They did a very nice job in maintaining the character of the barn and insulating from outside, exposing the barn board,” McDonough said. “We hope to continue in the same direction with our renovations to make further improvements.”

The brothers want to add a deck for outdoor dining, and build an addition to expand the kitchen.

The main dining room will be located on the first floor, and they plan to make the second floor a tavern, featuring its own menu, a bar and oversized furniture. They also want to add two fireplaces and paint the exterior a pale yellow with white trim, matching the Bristol color scheme.

Applications have been filed with the town for the interior improvements, McDonough said. He will have to meet with the town’s planning board for approval of the deck and kitchen addition.

If that happens, the Homestead Restaurant and Tavern would open in August. If not, they could open as soon as July 1.

McDonough said the restaurant will serve American fare, such as steak, seafood and chicken dishes, along with some pasta plates popular at Fratello’s. The brothers are still deciding whether to serve lunch.

The restaurant will employ 30 to 50 people, McDonough said. Hiring should begin toward the end of May.

Karen Lovett can be reached at 594-6402 or klovett@nashuatelegraph.com.