Riverside Sushi Cafe closing

[mtraininjax]

Outside seating will be tough, in front at least. They may be able to provide something in cooperation with Casbah's space, but the sidewalk is barely wide enough for 2 people side by side, let alone a cafe table. But hey, this is Avondale, there are plenty of benches and other places to take your Sushi, and Boone Park is nice and shady as well, just a few steps away.

[cityimrov]

Large buyers or Reits who have dozens or hundreds of properties mainly care about cash flows, and more importantly even and forecast-able cash flows.  When marketing a property, usually current, 1 year pro forma, and 5 year pro forma numbers are given.  Those numbers carry more weight if the tenants are national brands or at least strong regional brands.

However, I wouldn't call T-Flats a chain just yet.  They do have 70 locations, but they started in Orlando, each store is unique and tailored to its surroundings, and staffed by friendly and fun young people.  They are more comparable to a Loop than a McDonald's.

Is that part of the reason why the St Johns Town Center is filled to the brim with chain restaurants?  Ok, let's say instead of a Tijuana, there was a choice between an Orsay or a TGIF for that location.  Which one would be more attractive to a large buyer? 

[simms3]

These are all really good questions.  I would think the following, but this is just my thought process and may be completely different from the landlords':

The SJTC target demographic is less about who and more about reason.  SJTC shoppers are looking for brand names they know about.  They don't want to walk the mile long strip and not know what the stores and restaurants are.  Half the shoppers there arrive with their stores and/or restaurants already in mind.  The other half are keeping their eye peeled for stores/restaurants they recognize as they stroll.  Also, SJTC targets everyone and their mom, as well as regional visitors and tourists, which means nationals are what will work.  Your average suburbanite and your visitors and your tourists will have no clue what Orsay is, but Cheesecake Factory is universal.

Avondale shoppers are a little different.  The appeal is totally different.  Avondale is catered to and serves a more sophisticated local resident (i.e. intown, went to college, higher income level, probably lived somewhere else at one point), and these residents have more personal relations with the store owners/restaurant managers/chefs, and they know each other a whole lot more so reputation goes much further and stays within the local community/neighborhood.

Of course Avondale also attracts lots of outsiders and tourists who are curious, and they are not here to find their favorite identifiable brands.  They are here to explore and try new things and live vicariously through their upper end and/or urban brethren in the surrounding neighbs.  Totally different experience.

We've already touched on Wall St, investors and lenders, each of whom take Fitch Ratings very seriously.  Gone are the days of securitizing commercial loans and doing whatever you wanted.  Of course many landlords have a new problem to juggle - high vacancy and a lack of available and expanding credit tenants.  Nobody likes to see vacancy, especially with maturities looming and no options to extend or ability to refinance, but nobody likes a landlord who just crams a bunch of crappy tenants who will undoubtedly fail into their centers.  It's a tight rope act, which is the reason rents are still falling and vacancies are still rising and no new retail is in the pipeline (whereas other sectors are seeing almost healthy comebacks).

Lastly I just want to say many restauranteurs are complete divas - like the biggest divas in tenant world.  You really have to think long and hard before entering into a deal with a big chef or restauranteur.  They can be impossible to deal with.  Often times that is why you see these restaurants as the sole tenant or in a building owned by the chef/manager himself.  There is a whole strategy that must be employed on larger projects where top chefs are tenants.  And sometimes they don't want to be near each other.  We have an old meatpacking plant with several uber high end shops and several top top top restaurants - including a restaurant run by arguably the best chef in that particlar region of the US.  Across a courtyard is another really good restaurant run by a chef who frequently appears on Food Network, and they don't get along at all.  The uber high end chef thinks the Top Chef/Food Network chef is too mainstream, and we have to now contend with bickering and the possibility that one may relocate (to another one of our warehouses we are currently gutting).  The only reason we probably have the best restaurant portfolio in the country is that one of the firm's MDs sits on the board of the James Beard Foundation, and we have creative teams in place.  It's a private equity firm with not just an acquisitions team and an asset management team, but also a legal division, a property management division, a green consulting division, a leasing division (we have the best leasing team in the country - I'm fairly confident), a tax division, an accounting division, I mean we do so many more things in-house that most PE firms must hire 3rd party for, and we do this with less than 200 people (multibillion dollar portfolio).  Our in-house capabilities means we can better handle these diva tenants, and our portfolio has palenty!  A chef who gets publicity and becomes somewhat of a celebrity has an attitude like any 15-minutes of fame reality TV star.

[gsb]

Just wanted to commend this really interesting discussion.  Thanks for all the subject matter experts who have taken the time to contribute and help put some of these local decisions in a broader context so we can make better sense of them.

[ben says]

Since this thread, I guess ultimately, is about sushi...anyone tried the new place in Avondale?

[grimss]

Just wanted to commend this really interesting discussion.  Thanks for all the subject matter experts who have taken the time to contribute and help put some of these local decisions in a broader context so we can make better sense of them.

+1

[MissMinda]

Sorry, I do this for a living and I too often hear someone say a tenant left because of rent when that is hardly ever the case.  Obviously whatever happened is so much more complicated than what is being discussed here, but it's perpetually lazy for people to just assume that rent must have gotten too high -Retail Rents across 100% of markets in this country are still falling and are not what they were 1, 2, 3, and certainly not 4 years ago.  If rents are rising in Riverside submarket, they are probably going from $20 to $21 psf, on a simplified basis.  They aren't like Fifth Ave rents above 50th, which are going from $1,000 to $5,000 psf in one year (again, simplified example).

You're right.  After further thought, I agree that Sushi Cafe would be able to pay any rent for that space because they are killing it most nights of the week.  It would be better to see a regional chain on a rent roll.  Sorry, after hearing Ron Chamblin's account of what happened to Magnificat, I just have rent increases on the brain.

There are 1 or 2 open storefronts in that center.  What I would love to see is Quizno's move out of their space and into one of the middle spaces and have Sushi Cafe take over their space.  Quizno's has a huge patio that never gets utilized.  It's not likely that the tenants will all shuffle around, but I can dream can't I?  Given that Sushi Cafe has been so successful, I do hope they move to another location nearby.

I walked by this evening on the way to Publix and they were ripping out the interior of Quiznos. When I asked, they confirmed that Sushi Cafe is moving over.

[ben says]

Am I reading this correctly? Sushi Cafe is taking over the old Quizno's?

[MissMinda]

Yes, sorry. Didn't notice that my response posted within the quote. I'll go fix that.

[MissMinda]

They also told me that they would be utilizing the outside deck area.

[ben says]

Thanks for the update.

[aubureck]

This is great to hear!  I love Sushi Cafe and was sad with the thought they would be closing.

[goldy21]

Since this thread, I guess ultimately, is about sushi...anyone tried the new place in Avondale?

It's just like every other sushi place in Jax.  Same menu and concept as Sake House, Sushi Cafe and all the rest.

[ben says]

^ I don't know why, but I get the feeling Ginjo is owned by the same people who own Sake House. Maybe it's the identical dumplings, fish, ginger dressing, and Chinese that make me think that?

[MissMinda]

Sushi Cafe, in the former Quizno's location is now open. It was packed when I drove by last night. It looks like construction is fully underway in the old location to make ready for Tijuana Flats. Anyone have a time line on it?