We can still cross our fingers for more of NBC’s “Bluff City Law,” but should it return to the air, Elijah will need a new office building: Strait & Associates at Front Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard will soon be home to a restaurant, a sandwich shop and up those stairs where a beer or two was consumed on the show, a speakeasy.

Plans are for The Paramount to open mid-summer, though that could change as the interior has to be renovated from a law office television set to a restaurant that will seat close to 200 people.

“That’s if things go smoothly,” said Tyson Bridge, co-owner of The Vault and the guy behind the new restaurant. Derk Meitzler, who is the chef at The Vault, will be the chief operating officer and executive chef at The Paramount. He’s bringing John Pearson, whom he’s worked with in the past, in to run the kitchen. Meitzler will have some ownership in the new place and will also continue to run The Vault.

The Paramount is named after the building, which was the location where movie reels were stored during the early- to mid-20th century. Other studios, such as MGM, Warner Brothers, Columbia and 20th Century Fox also had buildings in the general area. Film reels were stored in fire-proof vaults because they were so flammable, and from these buildings they were distributed to theaters in the region.

The sandwich shop is tentatively named The Cutting Room, but Meitzler said other than the names, there’s not going to be a movie theme.

“We’re not going to be hanging movie posters up or anything like that,” he said.

Meitzler, who went to work for Harry Nicholas for a few months at Harry’s on Teur before buying the restaurant, also owned Café 61, and worked as a chef at Itta Bena, Local and Forest Hill Grill before going to The Vault. Bridge owned restaurants in Jackson and Oxford, Mississippi, before The Vault.

Look for hearty portions at a reasonable price point, a restaurant suburban in nature but in the heart of Downtown.

“We want to bring something Downtown with affordable food, a couple of TVs, good cocktails,” Meitzler said. “Something solid, like a Houston’s, but with an eclectic menu.”

The restaurant and sandwich shop will be open for lunch and dinner, though the latter will close around 8 p.m. The speakeasy, a small bar that will feature specialty cocktails and small plates, will be upstairs, seat about 20, and open only at night.