"People know that they can come here and not have to put a sport coat on," Michael Pettis told Community Impact this summer, talking about The Gin, the restaurant he runs with his mother, Marcia, on Broadway Street. For most of the past decade, that one address carried much of downtown Prosper's evening life. This October, it has company.
On Oct. 6, 1902 Restaurant opened its doors at 209 W. Broadway St. Downtown Prosper Plaza has a holiday program on the calendar. A small park is being finished at the east end of the street. None of these is complete yet, so a Broadway outing this fall gets planned around a few blocks and a few dates.
What Opened on Oct. 6, and What Is Still Upstairs
1902 Restaurant took over the space Prosper Wine House and Event Center left when it closed on Nov. 4, 2024. The plan described in March was a full commercial kitchen, two floors of seating, and an American menu built around steaks, house-made pasta and desserts. The opening was first listed for May. It slipped to October, and the restaurant opened on the day it had announced.
What opened is the first phase. Here is how the building divides right now, based on Community Impact's opening report:
- Open now: the first-floor dining room and bar, six days a week, serving steaks, pasta and seafood
- Coming later: rooftop seating, brunch, lunch, and Mary Ann's Speakeasy on the second floor
The restaurant's website already advertises the rooftop lounge, the speakeasy and brunch. The Prosper-Celina Journal reported on Sept. 30 that no timeline had been announced for that second phase. So for now, a night at 1902 means dinner downstairs. If you want the rooftop, call ahead before planning around it.
The Building That Has Been Carrying Broadway
1902 Restaurant shares its name with the year Pettis gives for The Gin's building, a historic Broadway storefront built in 1902. The newcomer is opening in stages, and The Gin's history shows that this is how downtown Prosper usually grows. It was built up one addition at a time over about ten years:
- 2015: Pettis, a North Texas homebuilder, bought the building. When he and his mother took over the restaurant, it was the Cotton Gin Cafe, a breakfast-and-lunch spot.
- 2017: A brick pizza oven went in, and the restaurant expanded into the unit next door and added a bar.
- 2020: A back patio and extra kitchen space followed.
- 2024: The patio was covered and fitted with heating and cooling, so events could run year-round.
Somewhere in those years, The Gin added dinner and cut breakfast back to Fridays and Saturdays. Its best-known dishes are Wagyu burgers and Wagyu chicken-fried steak. Pizza from the brick oven sits on the menu next to nachos and wings, and the bar stocks high-end bourbon and a growing wine list.
That 2024 patio work matters more in October than it did in July. The Gin hosts live music on the back patio, and staff swap the usual furniture for cocktail tables and a dance floor. Weekends usually feature local Dallas-Fort Worth artists, and this year the restaurant started booking a larger act once a month. Because the patio is heated, it keeps working as the weather turns, so on a cool weekend night the street has a covered music venue. Grand Love, a charity that supports grandparents raising their grandchildren, also holds a monthly bingo fundraiser there.
The Tavern on Broadway, reported by Community Impact to have opened in January 2025 at 350 W. Broadway St., Ste. 60, adds another stop with a full bar, pizza, burgers and sandwiches. Put dinner at 1902 together with music at The Gin and a drink at The Tavern, and Broadway can fill a whole evening without the car moving.
The car does have to park first. The Prosper EDC's downtown guide points visitors to free public parking lots near the downtown attractions.
The Plaza Fills In the Afternoons
The restaurants handle Broadway's evenings. Downtown Prosper Plaza is starting to give the street a daytime reason to visit. The Town listed a Red River Rivalry Fan Fest there on Oct. 10, and the next big plaza event falls the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Here are the dates on the downtown calendar between now and the holidays, along with one nearby event that is easy to mix up with them:
| Date | Event | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Celebrate Prosper, Hometown Harvest Fair | Frontier Park, outside downtown | 4–8 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Prosper on the Plaza: Friendsgiving | Downtown Prosper Plaza, Broadway St. | Noon–4 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Prosper Christmas Festival | Prosper Town Hall, 250 W. First St. | 3–7 p.m. |
According to the Town of Prosper's event listing, the Nov. 21 Friendsgiving brings live bluegrass, a giant corn maze, a petting zoo, face painting, lawn games and food trucks to the plaza. SPG Hospitality is producing it in partnership with the Town. Admission is free, and seats are reserved in advance. The event ends at 4 p.m., and The Gin and 1902 are a short walk down the same street, so the afternoon can roll straight into dinner.
The Prosper Christmas Festival on Dec. 5 is free and takes place at Town Hall, with holiday attractions and entertainment for all ages. Its 7 p.m. finish leaves time for a late dinner on Broadway.
The plaza fits a bigger plan. The Prosper EDC lists a Town Green, a Downtown Connector and a Downtown Plaza as public-investment opportunities in the Downtown Master Plan. Its guide does not give construction schedules for any of them.
The Piece Still Missing at the East End
Parvin Park, at 401 E. Broadway St., is the next public addition to the street. In January, the Town Council approved a $532,145 contract with Homerun Construction to add a small playground and picnic tables beside the park's existing pond and green space. The project had already moved once. Construction was pushed back from summer 2025 to allow revisions to the site plan, and the Parks and Recreation director then expected completion in summer 2026.
The latest update we found came from a June 28 report in Prosper TX Spotlight, which still described summer 2026 as the target. We have not seen a ribbon cutting or opening announcement since then. Check the playground's status before making it part of your plan.
Once it opens, Parvin Park would give the east end of Broadway a place to stop with children, and a family outing could start there before heading west to the plaza and the restaurants.
Nancy Floyd lives in Prosper and keeps track of how downtown is changing. If you would like to talk about how Broadway's growth fits into your own plans in town, Nancy is happy to sit down over coffee downtown. Schedule a meeting whenever it suits you.
