What a disgrace if the Virginia Inn — as it’s immediately — had been to close its doorways, by no means to return.
Except saved by a miracle or some renewed willingness to compromise, this storied venue within the Pike Place Market is ready to shut by the top of the month, a sufferer, maybe, of its personal success.
Serving food and drinks from the nook of First Avenue and Virginia Avenue since 1903, the Virginia Inn has been fashionable with each vacationers and locals — together with a hard-bitten set of politicians, Metropolis Corridor gadflies and journalists (however don’t maintain that towards it).
Craig Perez signed a lease for the spot in 2019. His settlement with the constructing proprietor, the Pike Place Market Preservation & Growth Authority, which maintains and operates the nine-acre historic district, included each a base hire and a share of complete gross sales over $1.2 million.
After plenty of exhausting work, Perez mentioned he received the Virginia Inn effectively into the black, with optimistic critiques and a secure workforce of 20.
“I doubled gross sales in 5 years! We’re crushing it. It’s a profitable enterprise. That’s why, ego-wise, I can test that one off,” he mentioned in an interview.
However with elevated labor and different prices, he requested the PDA to tinker with the proportion of gross sales he needed to embody within the hire. From his perspective, negotiations didn’t go effectively.
“They put the ‘lord’ in landlord,” he mentioned.
Rachel Ligtenberg, govt director of the PDA, mentioned her staff tried to work with Perez in good religion, however to no avail.
“That’s the place we’re shifting our vitality, to search out the following steward and associate for the Seattle icon, and it’s our expectation that we discover somebody who will take the mantle and proceed the Virginia Inn,” she mentioned.
Lease agreements with the 220-plus companies within the Market have typically the identical construction, and the newest lease proposal put forth to the Virginia Inn by the PDA was on the decrease finish of the rental vary, the authority contends.
And what of the identify, Virginia Inn?
The PDA says the “Virginia Inn” identify is owned by the Market and stays with the property. Perez says the identify is his and can go if he goes. He already eliminated the well-known neon signal.
Oy.
On the planet of diplomacy, the phrase “inconceivable” doesn’t exist. Right here’s to hoping that spirit extends to lease negotiations over a treasured municipal asset: a cushty bar with good meals, good folks and a storied historical past.
