A mellow mood will come over Green Street when a familiar pizza chain opens in the fall.

The owners of Mellow Mushroom say the Green Street location should be ready for business by Oct. 1.

John Bush, co-owner of Mellow Mushroom on Green Street, says the phone already is "ringing off the hook" with calls from potential employees.

Bush already owns a Mellow Mushroom in the Emory area of Decatur on LaVista Road. He said he plans to hire about 45 local people to help him run the Green Street location. He said he already has nine employment interviews lined up for next week.

Since he signed a lease on the building, Bush has been busy preparing the building. The chain is owned by Home-Grown Industries of Atlanta with locations primarily in the South, but also operates franchises as far west as Arizona and as far north as Indiana and Ohio.

The casual dining restaurant will offer a variety of pizza, sandwiches and salads.

For the past month, local construction crews have been renovating the old Rudolph’s building at 700 Green St.

"I know people are dying to see what we’ve done for it," Bush said.

The historic home, built in 1915, once was the residence of Dr. John Rudolph and his family. Later, the home went to the Rudolph children, John Rudolph, Dixon Rudolph and Georgia Rudolph Wall.

The English Tudor-style home has a granite foundation, porch and side porch and chimneys. The living room has exposed beams, and there are four tile-covered fireplaces.

During the mid-1970s, the home was bought by Warren Smythe, who restored the building and turned it into a restaurant with room for diners upstairs and downstairs. Today, both sides of Green Street, from Green Street Place to Glenwood Road, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Others who have leased the building to run the restaurant include Marsha Wall, Raymond and Melanie Swett and, most recently, Michael Hunt.

When the building is re-opened for business later this fall, the dining room will be smaller, the bar will be bigger, the kitchen will be restored and the restrooms will be expanded. The old carpet will be pulled up with hardwood floors in their place, he said.

"We’re just kind of freshening it up a bit," Bush said of the renovation. "It’s really exciting."

The walls will also feature art from local artists, but Bush says none of the changes to the home will be major.

"We’re really trying to keep with the beauty of the Rudolph home."