Maceli plans new downtown Lawrence event venue, future speakeasy

Downtown Lawrence is turning another long-empty storefront into a nightlife bet. Steve Maceli has taken over the former Einstein Bros. building at 1026 Massachusetts St. and is converting it into a smaller event venue with a future speakeasy component, a move that shows how Mass Street retail is being recast for private events, hospitality and evening crowds.

The property changed hands quickly after Einstein Bros. closed its downtown bagel shop in August 2025. Maceli bought the building in October and has been shaping it into a more flexible downtown outpost than Maceli’s larger banquet operation on New Hampshire Street. The new site gives the business a practical advantage, too: added parking for catering work and a kitchen with a walk-in freezer that Maceli says will allow much larger baking capacity.

The expansion fits the way Maceli has run his business for years, by changing before the market forces him to. Maceli’s says it has served Lawrence and surrounding communities since 1995, when Steve Maceli started catering weddings and church events while pursuing a doctorate at the University of Kansas. That same willingness to adapt helped the company grow from five full-time employees to 20 during the pandemic, a jump that also strained the limited space at the main banquet hall.

Maceli’s original downtown location at 1031 New Hampshire St. has been a gathering place since 2005, and the company says it can host groups from 25 to 300. The new Massachusetts Street property is meant to complement that operation, not replace it, by handling smaller gatherings and giving the company a more polished downtown presence. Maceli is also still deciding how to brand the space, with plans for a playful interior built around eclectic decor, including pieces found online and from family collections.

The speakeasy idea is part of a longer-term vision, but even the shorter-term shift says something about downtown demand. Lawrence has seen multiple retail and hospitality spaces change hands in recent years, and the new use at 1026 Massachusetts St. adds to a corridor where old storefronts are being repurposed to keep the block active after dark. Parking remains part of that equation. The city has pushed downtown parking incentives this month, and previous plans for a 49-space lot next door to Maceli’s underscored how off-street parking now shapes the viability of hospitality projects in the core of Lawrence.