GULF SHORES, Ala. – One thing Allen Hastings wants everyone to know is the Original Oyster house is open for business.

There’s lots of construction going on at the iconic Gulf Shores seafood place, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t cooking oysters.

“Make sure you say ‘we’re open,’” Hastings, the restaurant's General Manager, said. “You see that big sign out there? Our digital sign says ‘open,’ but man I get calls every day, ‘are y’all open?’ I say, ‘yeah, y’all come on in.”

Crews are adding an additional 30-seat dining room nad a larger façade to the front of the building. There will be more landscaping and covered areas for customers who are waiting for a seat.

“This should open up quite a bit of area for us,” Hastings said. “We’re going to be adding pavers down there for a waiting area as well. Like we had before but we tried to go a little softer on the landscaping. Pavers instead of concrete.”

And a big ol’ sign in the middle of façade.

“This is probably the first renovation of this building, of the façade front in who knows how many years,” Hastings said. “At least 20.”

During the busy season, Hastings says the restaurant serves between 700 and 800 for lunch and about 1,200 for dinner. He hopes the added seats and waiting areas will help his staff serve customers better.

“Hopefully it will relieve some of that wait,” he said. “There’ll be a nice area to wait in. We were so tight there at the door so this really loosened it up.

“In the summertime we average an hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes, sometimes push two hours. We’re just trying to make that as comfortable as possible. This actually should shave it a little bit.”

Hastings says the original target date for completion was April 17, but it’s going to be closer to May 1 before the new part opens.

“Hopefully it will be open before the summer gets here, right around the time school lets out,” he said.

To meet the new city code following Hurricane Ivan, the addition had to be raised about six steps higher than the other part of the restaurant.

“People asked why we went so tall, but we had to get the room up,” he said. “The building inspector now requires that.”

According to parking requirements, the restaurant has more than local regulations call for.

“When we were through getting all this approved, we found out we are a little above our parking ratio,” Hastings said. “Over the years we acquired the Dairy Queen across the street, got our parking where it needs to be so we could expand. We bought that after Ivan.

“I remember them lining down the streets years ago. We’re trying to step stone to get to the point where we could add on.”

In the off-season the new dining room will be available for private gatherings as well.

“It’ll be a real nice private area, maybe even a small wedding reception or a meeting room for local clubs,” Hastings said.