Layton icon is moving to make way for freeway

LAYTON — It's been years since John Sill first heard that the south Layton freeway interchange could take his restaurant.

But once the Utah Department of Transportation gave him notice he would need to vacate the property on the south end of Main Street where his family has owned land for 150 years, he got moving.

Sill, the owner of Sill's Cafe, has found a new location to move the local eatery where he worked as a boy.

Sill's Cafe will have a new home starting in November at 374 E. Gentile St., across the parking lot from Burger Stop.

Sill said he began scouting new locations for the cafe about 18 months ago, when UDOT's plans to create a full I-15 interchange were firming up.

He found the former Pizza Hut building nearby, which suits him because he didn't want to move far. Some of Sill's employees walk to work.

"They will still be close enough to be able to do that, too," he said.

Breann Close, of Layton, one of Sill's servers, said she wasn't worried about Sill closing the cafe. But Close was nervous that the restaurant could lose some of its regulars, which include the Coffee Gang, a group of retired men who visit the cafe three times a day.

But it's not just the regulars like the Coffee Gang and Bruce Longson, of Kaysville, and his daughter Alyssa, 6. It's a place where strangers who sit at the U-shaped counter can get to know each other, too.

Longson has been coming to Sill's for 23 years. He visits at least weekly.

He said he doesn't mind moving to a new location as long as its Sill's place.

Steve Whitesides, of Layton, who has been going to Sill's for twice as long as Longson, agreed.

"I'll be there every day," Whitesides said. "It doesn't matter where they are. It's the people."

But the renovations will take some work.

"That pizza oven is not going to do me any good," Sill said.

Sill is still in negotiations with UDOT about the purchase price for his property, which includes land and the 52-year-old cafe.

All he wants is what's fair because he doesn't want to move, he said, adding that he is grateful that UDOT will provide some money for moving assistance.