After 25 years at its current location at 6163 Sentinel Road, the Subway owned by Mike and Lisa Ames will move to a 1,688-square foot portion of Nicola’s on Main at 2617 Main Street.

The location is directly across from the Olympic Center and Conference Center at Lake Placid.

Subway owner Mike Ames said he was initially skeptical that relocating to 2617 Main Street would be within Subway’s price range, considering the spot.

“By far I think it’s the best location in Lake Placid,” Ames said, “and, you know, when they first approached me I said, ‘We are going to waste our time — why waste our time? Because I’m not going to be able to afford up there, it’s just going to be too much. With a great spot like that, and Mike (Nicola) and company were fair and we made it happen.”

Mike and Tracy Nicola stand amid what will become a 1,688 square-foot Subway restaurant at their 2617 Main Street property, as the Bangkok Thai restaurant they own will be downsized. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

The 1,688 square foot store will be about 200 square feet larger than the current Subway store and will be able to seat about 10 more people, upwards of 50 total. Ames said he intends to relocate to the store sometime between mid-June and the beginning of July. Across from the Olympic Center, he said he’d like to install at television at the shop to live stream local winter sporting events.

“Turn it into a spot that people want to go,” he said.

“I’ve seen the numbers that came out with (the Olympic Regional Development Authority),” and just with the pure events that they’ve got listed throughout the summer, I mean, it’s amazing. Even if you get one percent of those people coming across the street, it’s huge for us.”

Ames has hired three new full-time employees and said his staff could expand to up to 18 people this summer after he employed five this winter. He’s yet to go before the Lake Placid-North Elba Joint Review Board for a sign review, though he said he intends to use a sign identical to the one Bangkok Thai currently has in front. He’s also like to install one near Parkside Drive.

For the Nicolas, the lease to Subway comes after nearly five years of efforts of trying to find someone to fill the spot. Between Subway, Bangkok Thai and Nicola’s on Main, the total square footage of the property is 15,000 square feet. Nicola said on the ground level, along with the 1,688-square-foot Subway shop, Bangkok Thai will downsize to 400 square feet for dining and 375 for its kitchen while Nicola’s on Main will maintain 5,500-square-feet on the first floor.

Nicola described the process of trying to find a business to fill the space as difficult, and said most all of the businesses that inquired were restaurants, though he considered retail. At one point, he said an upscale food court involving Subway was also discussed. The lease is for five years with three renewal options extending to a possible 20 years.

“It started to be too big (of a space) in probably 2010 or 2011, when the 2008 recession really got to Lake Placid,” Nicola said. “We are always three years later on all trends, either coming into a trend or going out of, so by 2010, 2011 we realized that we had far more space than we needed.

“I think that my friends and good customers have understood the struggle that not only myself but a lot of people have been in in Lake Placid in the last 10 years,” he added. “And they understand that in order to survive you need to reinvent yourself.”