East Liberty Street space occupied by Cafe Japon placed on the market
The space now occupied by Café Japon at 113 E. Liberty was recently been placed on the leasing market.
The space is expected to become available sometime in early 2012, said Deb Pearson, agent for Bluestone Realty Advisors. The Oxford Co. of Ann Arbor is property managers for the building.
It has been on the market for a couple of weeks and there’s been interest from at least two restaurants, Pearson.
Café Japon, a Japanese restaurant and bakery with a French influence, is under a lease that expires later this year, and they may extend it for a few months, Pearson said. Café Japon could renew the lease if they decide to continue, she said.
“We would love it if they stayed.” Café Japon has been in that location for four years.
Café Japon owner Miyoko Honma said she plans to stay in her current location at least through the end of 2011, and maybe longer.
“Things are up in the air,” she said, declining to further discuss any pending plans.
Asking annual rent is $28 a square foot plus taxes and insurance. The space has 1,400 square feet and has seating for about 20 people. It will most likely attract another restaurant, Pearson said.
The office space above Café Japon also was recently placed on the market and will be available at the end of the summer.
Comments
sesomai
Wed, Apr 6, 2011 : 2:31 p.m.
I also hope CJ is around for a long time. They have the best bread and pastries (not to mention sandwiches, crepes, and tea) in the area! And if they do have to move, we'd welcome them with open arms in Ypsi!
Jim
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 7:29 p.m.
Indeed in my opinion Cafe Japon sells the best baguette not just in Ann Arbor, but in SE Michigan. I sincerely hope Ms. Honma finds a find a way to stay in this space.
Morris Thorpe
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 3:27 p.m.
Will and 5twenty, Thank you for pointing that out. I did not see the rent is annual. I thought businesses here were paying Manhattan prices! I do remember chatting with management at of NY Pizza Depot after he left the downtown area and they said they were paying something around 30K per month. Of course, that space was much bigger but I still pondered how they could do it.
seldon
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 2:11 p.m.
I really hope the question is whether she's going to move, rather than whether she's going to close. It would be a tremendous loss to Ann Arbor if she closes. I share the other commenters' concern about the price of real estate in downtown Ann Arbor. Do we really want to chase all the creative, awesome restaurants out so they can be replaced with more branches of Starbucks or @burger?
5twentytwo
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 1:47 p.m.
Article stated "annual rent" of $28/sq. ft. and not monthly. So I'm assuming it's: $28 x 1400 sq ft = $39,200.00/yr. Divide that total up in 12 months and you get $3,267/mo. Am I assuming when we talk about business leases, they calculated annually instead of monthly?
PersonX
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 1:14 p.m.
It would be a terrible shame if once again a wonderful local business were driven out of a downtown location by excessive rent. The result will be more chains, unimaginative pizza or hamburger places, or the kind of mass feeding dumps that we have on Main St. Cafe Japon is a treasure; it has great food, is original and quirky and is run by lovely people. The members on Council who would like to see downtown look like Southfield should ponder this. What is the point of "density" if local places are driven out and anonymous bars and restaurants, with sloppy, mass produced food dominate the area? The greed of landlords is the biggest problem for the future of downtown and there is no reasonable way of confronting it.
Marge Biancke
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 12:49 p.m.
Ms Homna bakes some of the the finest bread in Ann Arbor- it would be a shame to have her leave
Morris Thorpe
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 12:32 p.m.
As someone unfamiliar with retail space cost, I'm shocked to see this. A business would need to clear $40K a month just to pay the rent. Am I missing something? Assuming they open M-Sat for 12 hours a day, they would need to make $123 per hour *in profit* just to cover the rent. And then they have to add tax and insurance. And wages. So one could guess easily more than $200/hr, every single hour, in profit just to break even. I simply don't know how they do it. Oh, and CJ has the best baked goods in AA. Zingerman's bread is not worthy of having Ms Honma wipe her feet on it.
Will Warner
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 12:58 p.m.
Rodney, I initially made the same assumption, but the article says "annual rent" of $28/sqft