The Urban Cup plans return

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Cookie dough shop to replace The Urban Cup

The Urban Cup is planning a return after its former owner relinquished the branding to the shop’s general manager.

Developer Craig Wagoner, who owns the cupcake shop’s former home at 325 E. Walnut St., said he granted former General Manager Tracey Withoelder permission to use The Urban Cup name at no cost to her.

“I hope she’s successful,” Wagoner said.

The Urban Cup closed Feb. 24 to make way for Crave Cookie Dough LLC, Wagoner’s new tenant at the downtown Walnut Street building.

Reached this morning, Withoelder said she and her husband Cory recently looked at a space in central Springfield a few blocks east of Glenstone Avenue. They haven’t yet signed a lease, but are hopeful to do so soon at the former restaurant property. They ideally want to reopen The Urban Cup this May after zoning and inspection discussions are complete with Springfield’s Building Development Services Department. She said the Springfield-Greene County Health Department already has given the green light to the plans.

Withoelder said she wanted to keep The Urban Cub alive after announcing the closure on social media.

“I know it sounds a little bit cliche, but I think it kind of does take losing something to realize how important it is,” she said. “People expressed to me how important we were, not just our product, but in their lives. It personally touched me and I felt like I wanted to keep that part of Springfield going.”

Wagoner, the owner of Brentwood Management Inc., in 2015 bought what was then called The Cup. His new tenant, Dylan Collins, agreed to purchase the existing equipment inside The Urban Cup in addition to his lease of the 1,800-square-foot Walnut Street space. Collins is targeting a spring opening for his cookie dough shop, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.