Restaurant space for lease
This is a list of the current empty restaurant spaces in the Grove, in no particular order. The subject came up at the Village Council meeting last week. It's interesting to note because a lot of reasons are given for their demise. Who really knows why they closed.
Los Ranchos, CocoWalk (soon to be new Greek restaurant)
Grab 'n Go / NY Pizza, Main Highway
Visons, CocoWalk
Coyote Ugly, CocoWalk
Les Deux Fontaines, Mayfair
Chicken Grill, Mayfair
Wet Willies, Mayfair
Pizza Rustica, Mayfair
News Café, Mayfair
Cielo, Mayfair
Pisco, 3310 Mary Street
Modern Art Café, 2801 Florida Avenue
Anokha, 3324 Virginia Street
Qdoba, 2982 Grand Avenue
Temple, 2895 McFarlane Road
Nikki Beach, 2889 McFarlane Road
Biscaya (closed for dinner) Ritz-Carlton
Jacob's, 3195 Commodor Plaza (soon to be new Indian restaurant)
Kaleidoscope, 3112 Commodore Plaza
Tuscany, 3484 Main Highway
Moulin du Grove, 3425 Main Highway (soon to be new French restaurant)
Los Ranchos, CocoWalk (soon to be new Greek restaurant)
Grab 'n Go / NY Pizza, Main Highway
Visons, CocoWalk
Coyote Ugly, CocoWalk
Les Deux Fontaines, Mayfair
Chicken Grill, Mayfair
Wet Willies, Mayfair
Pizza Rustica, Mayfair
News Café, Mayfair
Cielo, Mayfair
Pisco, 3310 Mary Street
Modern Art Café, 2801 Florida Avenue
Anokha, 3324 Virginia Street
Qdoba, 2982 Grand Avenue
Temple, 2895 McFarlane Road
Nikki Beach, 2889 McFarlane Road
Biscaya (closed for dinner) Ritz-Carlton
Jacob's, 3195 Commodor Plaza (soon to be new Indian restaurant)
Kaleidoscope, 3112 Commodore Plaza
Tuscany, 3484 Main Highway
Moulin du Grove, 3425 Main Highway (soon to be new French restaurant)
posted by Tom Falco at 2:00 PM
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32 Comments:
What a sad list. Landlords need to reduce rents. It might take a decade to fill 50% of those spaces.
Rent is too expensive.
Parking is too expensive.
Look at all the space in Mayfair. Doesn't that make them realize that they need to lower their rents? Very sad.
Problem one: Parking
Problem two: High rents
Problem three: Miami Parking Authority fees
Problem Four: Crazy property taxes
Problem five: Crazy insurance rates
Problem six: Politics
Translates to shortage in serious restaurants and severe problems with quality and value
Who collects these impossible rents? Or who doesn't now.. Sarnoff/City, or private biz? Either way, they're all retarded. CI
Very sad... agreed. What an awful commentary on south FL economy.
add to the list:
Sr. Frogs
Sekai (which literally opened and closed)
both on Main Hwy
Q'doba on Grand
Oxygene
I ran into some friends on Thursday who work near Merrick Park coming to lunch in the Grove. The first thing they said to me was A.) There is no parking anywhere. B.) When they did finally find a parking both meters on Matilda were not working. They were very frustrated. C.) Last time they will come to the Grove for lunch. WHY? BECAUSE OF THE PARKING.
Hello wake up it needs to be easy or people go to a place where it is easy to park and pay. D.) In my friend's perception the Grove equals HASSLE and that means they go somewhere else.
I now think the BID and the Village Council abd City Hall need to rectify this situation immediately. Between Parking and people being generally scared of the Grove (recent rape events and crime perception) Business will go down even more.
Don't forget "3484"
What's up with the Oasis Internet Cafe? I see the tables & chairs on the front deck, but never see them actually open.
PARKING PARKING PARKING. It's broken record that never gets fixed. Never.
It isn't the rents....Even if rents were miniscule, if patrons don't come, restaurants and bars close. Parking and the perception that The Grove is no longer the fun chic place to hang out are the real culprits. We are becoming a ghost town. The playhouse is decrepit, the movies are on hiatus, I cannot think of anyplace except Monty's and the now closed Temple where people can dance. Our bars close at 3 which means people generally bail out at 2 which for S FL nightlife is early. If the grove is to survive changes must be effected. And don't think that this will not eventually affect residential real estate values in the adverse. I know, having practiced Real Estate in the Grove for the last 12 years.
The landlords are greedy, but mostly filthy rich, having made a killing on those spaces for the last 15 years, and they won't waiver. I've tried dealing with some of them, and they are, quite frankly, completely out of touch. Most of the corporations that own these properties are primarily owned by persons who do not live in the area, so they have no idea, and the agents holding the listings apparently either cannot or do not properly advise them.
Right now, none of these is worth renting at what's being asked, and the MPA fees on top, put you in too big of a hole.
In addition, the restrictions of SD2, burden the businesses to the point that success is a 1 in 50 chance at best. It is suicide to open something in the grove right now. Even the legendary grove staples like Sandbar, Moes and Cuda are barely keeping their heads above water.
I agree with Mykael and Proud To Be Anonymous (bad name). It is not the rents. It is the Miami Parking Authority and politics.
If your restaurant cannot show ample, allocated parking spaces then you must pay the "parking surcharge" to the city. This is outright extorsion from the City Of Miami.
Even still, there would not be enough parking in the area if only a few of these restaurants were open today.
Which committee will solve these problems (or even attempt to)? The BID? The BIC? The Chamber? Village Council?
You went back pretty far - News Cafe closed years ago and the space has been filled. For those that don't know 3484 and Tuscany were the same location. Kaleidescope closed at least a decade ago. Never even heard of Les Deux Fontaines. Qdoba never advertised. Look at the success of Calamari - they prove it can be done when no one else could. Good service, good food, valet parking, friendly staff, good management. The same can be said for Greenstreet, George's, and Jaguar.
NewsCafe sits empty since the day it closed, excpet for the small corner area where the beauty salon is. The other 80% is closed.
Les Deux Fontaines is adjacent to that at Mayfair.
Greenstreet and George's are doing alright, but you go talk to the owners of the other places you named and ask them how well they are doing. Right now, no one is making money, they're just glad to be getting by.
Ask everyone how badly their numbers are down from even just 2 years ago. You will be shocked by the decrease.
Having your checks clear the bank does not a successful business make. You're putting half to 3/4 of a mil on the line, it would be nice to see some of it back and maybe even a little profit.
There is know reason to go to the grove. There is nothing here except restruants, bars and hair salons. If I am going out I want something more. If the grove is fun again people will come with or without parking. Look at holloween the streets are packed because it is fun. The king mango perade people come because it is fun.
don't forget Cefalo's, then Sammy C's , Hagen Daz, Frikin Friar, Christebelle's Quarter, Mambos, Senor Frogs,Tu Tu Tangos,Basil in the Grove and I'm sure I am forgetting tons....so so sad. News Cafe would be nice again
Contrary to what a few commenters have said, I believe it all comes down to the rent. Knowledgeable and good business owners will not pay the rents many of the grove landlords are asking.
Fair rent attracts good business people and good businesses attract patrons.
The people most willing to pay the exorbitant rents are business owners who don't know enough about what they are doing. And, therefore, are doomed from the start.
What we end up with are turnstile tenants with lousy business plans and mediocre concepts.
If you ask me, outside of the occasional events that are put on in the Grove, there is little reason for outsiders to visit besides the bay/waterfront/sailing/boating. I'm talking about what makes the Grove unique. Every area in Miami has sidewalk restaurants, bars, and shops. I think that one thing the Grove misses a lot is the draw of the Playhouse. I have an old boss who used to drive down from Aventura to go there! With the PAC downtown now, who knows if the CG Playhouse would have much of a draw anymore but it sure as hell would be nice to see something become of that building that once served as a great magnet for leading folks to the Grove.
I'd also to say that "all of the above" is a good answer to all of the suggestions that rent, parking, etc, is a reason for the empty storefronts.
Hey Ron, before you start going around trying to save face for the boss please go talk to the merchants. You're not the one to decide if a business has advertised enough or not, or if "they weren't good opperators" or if you've come to a conclusion that the concept "wasn't right for the Grove". And before you crown any new restaurant as "being able to do it when no one ele could" you should remember your boss said the same about Christabelles Quarter which closed and Citas who's hanging on by a thread.
the grove has all but lost it's funk and it's directly related to rent prices, this place has been priced out of the range of any business being successful for a decade, youth arts and artists and reasonably priced eats and drinks are all impossible in the current price bracket, the grove needs to be affordable to the beautiful young artsy crowd again to attract the money crowd and real estate agents need to think long term not how they can shaft someone for a astronomical years lease that will end up unpaid when yet another place cant afford to stay open.
This is a business meltdown. Obama and his policies have made business people afraid to take any risk whatsoever. I see it every day in my line of work. We had 25 years of growth, then, poof... Obama was elected and everything went south, by 50 percent! Our new mayor has his work cut out for him.
CLL
Yes, it is probably many reasons. I am sure parking is a very big factor in customers not coming as are rents. But customers don't care what rents, taxes, etc a business has to pay. They want ease of getting there and quality and value.That is why Calamari works ! Just because someone opens a restaurant does not mean they automatically have the right concept to succeed even if all factors ( rent, parking, etc) were favorable.Did anyone REALLY think Christabellas was going to make it? And the The Ivy - dream on! It will be gone by the beginning of summer. Strange - there are NO vacant restaurants in South Miami and MORE on the way ! Give the customers what THEY want and they will come - not a vanity project to try and convert people to be customers.
Folks It isn't the rents, or the Real Estate Agents trying to shaft Tenants, contrary to previous remarks. The real estate markets (Commercial and Residential) are driven by what people will pay. When the number gets to high people don't pay. Pretty simple equation actually. So rents are actually a fluctuating variable. The real cause of downturn is the Preception and the Value of the Grove as it relates to a good time and the Consumers' entertainment $$$ in comparison to other parts of S FL. So when demand ceases the rents WILL come down, until then it is like any other product, you market it for what it is worth and what somneone will pay.
Mykael Marinelli
Vice President-Sales and Marketing
Coconut Grove Realty
It is interesting how all these Real Estate people think they know about Retail business. The rents are way too high. If we could afford to pay our rents then we wouldnt have every other store empty which makes no one want to come to the grove. There is parking all over. Maybe not a lot but enough. Thats just an excuse. I never have customers complain about parking. They complain that all the stores have shut down and theres nothing to come see here. If we could all get our rents down we could stay in business and keep the Grove looking busy and alive.
I've got news for everyone.
There's been a mass exodus from Cocowalk. Most tenants are either paying half rent or nothing at all.
It's only a matter of time before it collapses under it's own mortgage.
My Point exactly. It's not the rents. Here Cocowalk has adjusted and still the Tenants are feeling the crunch because The Patrons are not there. And that has almost Everything to due with the Preception(not necessarily the reality) of the Grove, ie parking, early closings, nothing worthwhile to do. I spent many yrs in retail, and if you aren't getting traffic and customers are leaving without bags ..your done.
Mykael - why are there so many locations that remain empty for years? I will tell you, it is because the landlords have no idea and don't live here, and their agents either don't or cannot convince them to lower rent.
I have inquired on several locations over the last 3 years - the demand has remained identical.
Many, if not most are completley out of touch with reality. Please feel free to try to explain that? Supply and demand clearly isn't affecting this economically suicidal tendencies. The supply on empty space has increased consistently, the demand is non-existent. The space sits empty. Yet they wait.
Sure it's their choice.. free market, charge what you want, but that is one of the biggest factors "killing the grove."
I hate to admit it but That Guy is usually spot on.
Please unvail yourself, I'm dying to know who you are.
Agree with That guy, the Grove would be doing much better if we had no empty building and more interesting stores, but good operators will not pay more than $40 including fees and taxes a foot considering the lack of traffic, if they want to have a chance to succeed,unfortunatelly most spaces for rent are between $70 and $ 100 a foot.
Sylavno Bignon
Greenstreet
My family were the owners of one of the abovementioned closed businesses. It came down to traffic declining and rent increasing exponentially. Plain and Simple.
~A Long, Long, Long Time "GroveRat" and old Miami Foodservice Family
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