WESTERLY — The mural on a wall at the former 84 Tavern on Canal at 15 Canal St., directly across from Savoy Bookshop and Café, will be repainted on an adjacent wall to make way for the entrance to the new restaurant that is expected to open soon at the location.

The wall on which the mural was painted was taken down Tuesday.

The Westerly Automatic Telephone Co. mural, which was painted on the now-missing wall, was one of 16 murals painted on the sides of buildings in the Westerly-Pawcatuck downtown area in 2017. Dan King, whose DAK Properties  owns the building at 15 Canal St. that once housed the Señor Flaco’s restaurant, which he ran for about 10 years with his wife, said the wall that was taken down will be used as the entrance to Surf Cantina, a new restaurant that is expected to open by Oct. 1.

King, along with Daniel Van Kruiningen and Kenneth Fontaine, the owners of Surf Cantina, have agreed to split the roughly $5,000 cost of having the mural repainted on a section of wall directly to the left of where the mural was originally positioned. King and Van Kruiningen met with Wendy Brown, president of the Bricks & Murals nonprofit organization that organized the mural-painting festival and continues to maintain the murals, to discuss the plans to take the wall down and repaint the mural.

Van Kruiningen and Fontaine, who own and operate restaurants in Mystic and Guilford, Conn., are undertaking extensive renovations to prepare the Canal Street location. The work includes creation of the new entrance as well as three new glass garage doors that will replace other exterior walls.

“We thought it was important that the new restaurant owners had the ability to bring in customers with good visibility. That’s why they are putting in the amount of construction on the building that they are doing. It’s very important to us that the mural stay there – it’s just moving 10 feet to the left,” King said.

King, who is executive director of the Royce Family Foundation, was a backer of the Bricks & Murals festival. He has an ownership interest in the Knickerbocker Cafe on Railroad Avenue, where a long mural depicts the history of the club and the train it is named after. The family also has an ownership interest in the retail space occupied by Savoy Bookshop and Café.

“We were a part of the original sponsorship of the Bricks & Murals event and we have seen the walking groups that have toured the murals, which is something we have tried to promote,” King said.

The owners of the buildings where the murals are painted each agreed to make arrangements to have murals repainted should the original locations become untenable, Brown said. She confirmed that King had discussed his plans for the Westerly Automatic Telephone Co. mural prior to the wall coming down.

“There has been a plan and communication with Dan King. He approached us about relocating the mural,” Brown said.

Kruiningen said the mural is an important part of the downtown area.

“It’s a nice piece. All of the murals are beautiful pieces,” Kruiningen said.

With the reopening of the United Theatre, Kruiningen said downtown Westerly is on the precipice of vaulting to a new level as an attraction for the arts, dining, entertainment  and commerce.

“We think that street and Westerly is poised for wonderful economic stuff … it might take a year or two, but I think Westerly is going to see quite an influx,” Kruiningen said.

Surf Cantina will be a Mexican-American hybrid restaurant with a menu that will include tacos, taco bowls, burgers, and calamari. There will be 177 seats, including 40 at the bar, Kruiningen said.

“We are excited to be in Westerly. We think the economic development stuff that they are doing in that wonderful town is just going to be gangbusters,” Kruiningen said.

Kruiningen and Fontaine had hoped to open in mid-September, but supply-chain problems will likely push the opening back to Oct. 1, Kruiningen said.

The Westerly Automatic Telephone Co. was the first automatic dial telephone company in the country. It was founded by local physician, businessman and real estate investor Dr. John Champlin in 1902. He was depicted in the mural and will be again.