The new owner of the Miss Portland Diner completed the purchase today of city land on Marginal Way in Portland where the landmark eatery will be located.

Thomas Manning, the Portland native who purchased the diner in December, said he plans to start building an addition to the 46-seat Worcester Lunch Car within the next two weeks.

Manning said he has hired Keeley Construction and architect David Lloyd, both of Portland, to design-build the $1.1 million project in the redeveloping Bayside neighborhood.

The addition will include a modern kitchen and a 48-seat dining room. Manning said he plans to reopen the diner by fall.

The City Council agreed in August 2006 to sell the 59-year-old diner and a 6,000-square-foot bus shelter site to Manning for $25,000 and $75,000, respectively.

The diner will be located at 138 Marginal Way, next to a student housing complex and a health care office building that are under construction along Interstate 295, between the Forest Avenue and Franklin Arterial exits.

Manning, who was raised on Munjoy Hill, is director of administration at Newsweek magazine in New York City.

Manning said he will oversee construction and management of the diner from his home in New Jersey. He already has begun interviewing and hiring the management staff.

If the diner is successful, Manning said, he plans to move his family to Portland within a few years. His wife, Stefanie, who is a marketing executive for O, the Oprah magazine, will be in charge of marketing the historic diner.

The diner's former owner, Randall Chasse, gave it to the city in March 2004 after trying to sell it several times, including on the Internet.

The diner has been in storage since it was removed from its former location at Marginal Way and Hanover Street, where an office building now stands.

Before Manning expressed an interest in the diner, deals with two other prospective buyers fell through.

Originally published online here: http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=178151&ac=PHnws