A new City & State location is coming to the Medical District next year, with the planned opening roughly coinciding with the three-year anniversary of the combination coffee and retail venture that first opened in the Broad Avenue Arts District in early 2015.

421 Monroe Ave., as seen in July 2016 (Google Earth)

Co-owner Lisa Toro said a letter of intent has been signed for 421 Monroe Ave., where the new City & State will occupy 3,500 square feet. That’s a bit larger than the 2,600-square-foot version at 2625 Broad Ave., and the Toros are taking the opportunity to also do a bit of a variation on the concept - expanding, for example, what they do on the coffee side of the business.

“It will be coffee, a full bar, small kitchen, and retail, so it’ll be an evolution of the brand to fit more of the Medical District,” Toro said.

Toro and her husband, Luis, are in the midst of a busy period. In addition to opening the new City & State location next spring, they also plan to open their new restaurant, The Liquor Store, this August.

The Liquor Store is the lighthearted name they decided to give to their restaurant - which is coming to 2657 Broad Ave. and will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner - partly because of the fact that the space used to house an actual liquor store. After opening the restaurant, the Toros will move to the opening of their new City & State, for which Toro said a lease will hopefully be signed in the next few months and where construction should start at the beginning of 2018.

“We always wanted to open more (City & State locations),” she said. “The idea of activating these neighborhoods again with coffee and community spaces feels right to us.”

The question for the Toros to answer, though, was where to head next. They’d explored the idea of putting the second City & State farther east before ultimately settling on the Medical District.

“It reminds us a bit of Broad Avenue,” Toro said. “It’s a little scrappy. They’re trying to bring it back. And it’s got some great history to it. And our building is amazing. It’s beautiful inside.”