CHANGING HANDS: It will be breakfast, lunch, and dinner when Main Street Cafe becomes a branch of PJ’s Pancake House, scheduled to open early next year. It’s the end of an era at the popular cafe, but some elements of the menu will be kept on, say its new operators.

Main Street Cafe, a fixture at Kingston’s main intersection on Route 27 since 1984, is closing at the end of this month to make room for a branch of PJ’s Pancake House. The new restaurant/bakery, run by the Gretalia Hospitality Group, is scheduled to open in February 2017 after an extensive renovation.

Gretalia partner John Procaccini said loyal Main Street patrons will still be able to find at least some of the dishes they know and like when the transition is completed. “We’ll work with them to keep some of the favorites they have,” he said. “At the end of the day, they do have a good following. So we’ll put some of their stuff on our menu. We’re not looking for a lot of change and we’re hoping to keep all of their current customers.”

The new restaurant will offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. An on-premises bakery will create pastries, artisan breads, and cakes. Current employees of Main Street, most of whom have been with the cafe for decades, have been told they are welcome to remain and work in the new eatery. “We’ll keep all of them. We met with them yesterday,” Mr. Procaccini said last week. “They’re excited to stay on board with us. A lot of our customers are also their customers, and they’ve said to us, ‘Don’t get rid of those ladies.’”

The four-year-old Gretalia Group owns PJ’s Pancake House on Nassau Street and a branch in West Windsor. Also in the firm’s portfolio are Osteria Procaccini, which has locations in Kingston and Pennington; and Trattoria Procaccini, Porta Via, and Dolceria, all on Nassau Street.

The Fenwick Hospitality Group, which owns Agricola, the Great Road Farm, and Dinky Bar & Kitchen, purchased The Main Street Restaurant Group earlier this year. The Main Street company also includes a catering operation in Rocky Hill, which Fenwick has upgraded, and the restaurant Main Street Bistro in Princeton Shopping Center.

“We face a necessary change with the sale of the building, but are happy to see a locally owned eatery sharing a similar outlook moving into Kingston,” said Jim Nawn, the Fenwick Hospitality Group’s owner, in a printed statement. “We will continue to cater and serve the Princeton community having invested heavily in our long term operations.”

The building is being purchased by Princeton international Properties, and Gretalia Group is leasing it from them, said Mr. Procaccini.

According to George Luck, vice-president of the Kingston Historical Society, the Main Street building dates from the 1880s, when it replaced an earlier structure on the site, a tavern called The Sign of the Mermaid.

“William Van Tilburg ran it during the Revolutionary War time, from 1750 till he passed away in 1802,” Mr. Luck said. “It was on the same foundation of the current building. It was a tavern and an inn, with rooms. It was always kind of a stopping place. George Washington had some of his life guard put up there.”

In later years, the location housed a store called Peebles and the Kingston Food Market before opening as Main Street Cafe. Heidi Karbownik, who has worked at the cafe for 17 years along with several family members, said the upcoming closing and reopening are bittersweet.

“On a personal note, we’re sad about the end of this place,” she said. “But we’re very excited about the Procaccinis. We’re thankful to them. They’re family people and so are we. So it’s the end of an era — one door closes, the other opens. We’re kind of in mourning, but we’re looking forward to a new beginning.”