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A cafe is moving into the old Margaritas building in Orono.
The business, Sip Lab, is taking over a prime space on Mill Street in downtown Orono that has been vacant since Margaritas closed in January 2025. Margaritas’ owner, David Reesman, was later accused of owing about $200,000 to the state of Maine and various lenders.
Sip Lab, which has not announced an opening date, will be the newest offering on a street that already has Pat’s Pizza, a Mexican restaurant and a bakery. The cafe is aligned with Orono’s goal of businesses filling downtown and attracting foot traffic.
The new owner, Joyce Lin, bought the building for $345,000 in October 2025 under a corporation named 15 Mill Realty Estate, according to the Penobscot Registry of Deeds.
Lin and others have applied for various permits for the Mill Street building since purchasing it last year. Permits for demolishing interior walls and dividers to open the bar area, remodeling, and adding a sign that shows a coffee cup and martini glass and says “Day tea. Night sip” were all applied for and approved from November 2025 to April 2026, according to Orono’s permit portal.
Another visible change seen from outside the building is chairs and tables inside the building.
Lin did not respond to a request for comment about the cafe.
Lin, along with Ben Chen, also owns Green Tea, a Japanese restaurant in Bangor. Maine officials cited the restaurant for more than 1,700 state labor law violations in 2024. Lin later signed a $100,000 settlement with the state, avoiding the original penalty of $249,824.