With construction complete on its 5,000 sq. foot flagship store at 14 JFK St., Finagle A Bagel will open its doors--and its ovens--today to bagel connoisseurs in the Square for its grand opening in a location once occupied by the Wursthaus restaurant.

The 140-seat eatery, which will also offer non-bagel options like hamburgers in addition to beer and wine on its lower level, hopes to give away more than 40,000 bagels today.

Today's opening reflects something of a coup for owners, who met resistance from the Harvard Square Defense Fund when they proposed to bring the store to the location.

According to company president and founder Larry Smith, the company had been hoping to open a Harvard Square location for as long as it had been in business.

But in order to move into the newly renovated building, next to recently opened clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, the company was forced to seek a zoning variance to sell "fast food." The Fund has traditionally been hesitant to support such requests.

To appease Fund members, the company's owners changed the focus of the establishment to combine both take-out and sit-down aspects.

And in the end, the Defense Fund decided not to oppose the store, allowing the company to begin construction on the eatery this fall.

And on Monday, despite boxes strewn around inside and no signs on the walls, Finagle A Bagel's Director of Marketing Heather Robertson said it was on track for a successful opening today.