New owner puts Ann Arbor's former Damon's Grill building up for sale
Damon’s Grill closed Sunday after the franchise could not come to a lease agreement with the building's new owners following a foreclosure on the property in 2012.
Jason No, a franchise spokesperson, said in an email the closing of the restaurant was purely a financial decision.
“The business has not been able to sustain itself, and did not appear to be able to change course,” he wrote.
Damon's Grill had to close early Sunday when the restaurant ran out of food.
damons
Maryland-based McCormick 107, LLC bought the property at 3015 Boardwalk Drive through a sheriff's sale on Nov. 1, 2012, according to the property’s deed. The new owners paid $1.45 million for a property that California-based investor Ronald Campos bought in 2006 for nearly $3.5 million, according to city records.
The new owner’s principal office also is the office of Maryland-based investment company Beltway Capital Management, according to paperwork on file with the Maryland’s Secretary of State’s office. According to the company’s website, Beltway Capital Management “has extensive experience in distressed debt markets of all types and actively acquires assets as principal for our own portfolio.”
Even though it has not been listed online yet, the property is for sale with an asking price of $1.9 million, listing agent Jim Stokas said.
“It’s a good property, and we’re excited about marketing it,” he said.
“There aren’t a lot of good sites in that area and it has great pylon signage on State Street in addition to being on the circular road around the hotels there.”
Robert Litter, a senior vice president at Beltway Capital management, said the property is McCormick’s only investment in Ann Arbor. He said the company does not have a specific timeline for selling the property or a specific type of client in mind.
In late 2009, Campos and his wife Zenaida were listed in the Washtenaw Legal News as being in default on payments to Flagstar Bank to the tune of $2.38 million. Washtenaw County chief deputy clerk and register of deeds James Dries said after the sheriff sale Campos has a six-month window in which he can reclaim the property for the approximately $1.45 million sale price.
“Mostly when we see foreclosures they’re on residential properties, and on those properties it’s infrequent that people are able to redeem the properties,” he said.
“This is a commercial property though, so it would be harder for me to say.”
Regardless of whether Campos can reclaim the property before May 1, Damon’s Grill has closed its doors in Ann Arbor for good. The last few days at the restaurant were very special, Mowara said, waith many members of the Ann Arbor community coming to say goodbye to the restaurant.
“A ton of past employees came, regular guests came in, a lot of my vendors came — it was really neat,” he said.
“From the support we got on Friday and Saturday we kind of gathered that we wouldn’t last food-wise all the way through Sunday. By 6 p.m. we were bone dry, and by 8 p.m. we had closed up.”
Mowara spent most of last week working to find job opportunities for his employees. He said that restaurants in the area, as well as big box stores such as Costco, had been extremely helpful, and that many of the franchise’s former workers had found new jobs.
Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2
Comments
mmhp28
Sun, Mar 3, 2013 : 1:36 a.m.
Granite City is taking over the former Damon's .
lefty48197
Sat, Mar 2, 2013 : 11:59 a.m.
Maybe they'll make it into a dog park?
Gorc
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 11:51 p.m.
Maybe U of M will purchases and pull another property of the property tax rolls.
a2miguy
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 7:53 p.m.
@1bit - You do realize that Damon's is across the parking lot from UM-owned Wolverine Tower, right?
1bit
Sat, Mar 2, 2013 : 3:29 a.m.
Nope. Too expensive and too far removed from campus (and other U of M facilities in the area).
rkb0929
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 7:49 p.m.
Not surprised that Damon's closed -- we were there late last fall and it sure wasn't that great...and service was very poor. We also had a groupon to use, and they didn't seem to have a clue as to how to do it!
Bryan
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 7 p.m.
Two words...Smoky...BONES!! I LOVE that place!!
bludawg
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:58 p.m.
HOOTERS! HOOTERS! HOOTERS!
billchase2
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:53 p.m.
If we're going for a chain restaurant, let's get some awesome BBQ: Famous Dave's!
Rabid Wolverine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 7:02 p.m.
With the current options for good BBQ in the area why would you wish Famous Dave's on us?
miman
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:32 p.m.
Don't really see a grocery store at that location, too many hotels/motels in that area would benefit from another restaurant or even a buffett of some sort.
UncleMao
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:22 p.m.
Hooters.
Rabid Wolverine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 7:04 p.m.
Anything to give BW's some competition. Quaker Steak and Lube would also be a good option...
dancinginmysoul
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:28 p.m.
I would love to see a Brazilian Steakhouse.
dancinginmysoul
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 10:03 p.m.
Don't confuse price with quality.
Rabid Wolverine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 7:01 p.m.
There are already plenty of over priced places in AA. Why add another?
ummsw
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:20 p.m.
How about Ruth Chris steak house..
Tom Teague
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:16 p.m.
Lizzy - I know it's early in the process, but have you heard anything about a grocery store looking at the property? I don't know whether that's a real rumor or someone's wishful thinking.
Lizzy Alfs
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:31 p.m.
@Tom: Interesting, but we haven't heard anything. There's definitely potential there, though.
Tom Teague
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:14 p.m.
Apologies Ben. I had just read a previous response from Lizzy when I wrote that, but shoulda directed my question to you.
A2nd
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:01 p.m.
I would love to see either a J Alexander's or Buddy's Pizza move into that spot.
Frustrated in A2
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:49 p.m.
Yes J. Alexander's would be great, I love a good steak!
hail2thevict0r
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 3:55 p.m.
Cheesecake Factory....
Atticus F.
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 2:20 p.m.
Bring back Bombay Bicycle Club!!!
JimmyD
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:38 p.m.
Ouch ! Serial Long Island Ice Tea induced hangover flashback !
Machine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:49 p.m.
Be sure they still have the backgammon tables too!
a2miguy
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:28 p.m.
Omg... I might never have thought of that place ever again. Thanks for mentioning it. They made some fine long island iced teas as I recall...
ummsw
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 3:51 p.m.
Wow that's a "Blast from the Past"..loved that place!!
Rabid Wolverine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 1:44 p.m.
LA fitness should purchase this property and build a proper gym. The old Bally' is way too small to accommodate the current membership. This would be a great property for them!
Lizzy Alfs
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 3:27 p.m.
@Rapid Wolverine: You're on to something. Since L.A. took over Bally's locations, I've been waiting to see what they are going to do about the Ann Arbor one. You're right, the location is not nearly as nice or big as most L.A. Fitness gyms. I thought they'd make a move immediately -- possibly demolishing that building. But it might make more sense for them to move altogether.
djacks24
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 3:17 p.m.
I'm a member at 1 on 1 which is on Boardwalk North of Eisenhower. That would make me check out LA.
Billy
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 1:57 p.m.
Now THAT would be a good business for this location.
Billy
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 1:07 p.m.
Ahh so we get the honest truth now...Damon's was closed because of greed. Outside non-local property investor buys it out at a foreclosure price (which means they could EASILY profit off of whatever the current rent was)....wastes little time in running the current residents out.....then immediately tries to flip it at nearly a 25% markup (you couldn't give a better indicator of absolute greed if you tried).... I would have believed the whole "it's just not a profitable business" line had it not been a foreclosure. Not being able to reach a new rent agreement is probably more..."here's our excuse to clean the building out and find a higher ticket tenant" It's actually a bad location for a restaurant being set so far back from the road like that....so good luck finding that "higher ticket tenant." Well....IF you can find them...if not....still gotta pay property taxes...which are oh so low on income properties....right?
Anthony Clark
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 9:29 p.m.
"It's not greed, it's just business." Same thing. Greed and business have become synonymous.
Soothslayer
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:38 p.m.
It's always about the money, that's what everything is about.
djacks24
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 3:12 p.m.
It's not greed, it's just business. Anyone who had the $1.45 million could have purchased the property. As far as the lease negotiations, where you there? If you happened to buy a used TV off of a relative for $25 and sell it for $75 even though the TV was worth maybe $150 is that greed?
4 Fingers
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 12:15 p.m.
P.F. Changs, please!
Rick Powell
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 6:08 p.m.
Evergreen on Plymouth Road has quite good food at decent prices. They have both a Traditional Chinese Menu and a "'Murican Chinese Food" menu with it's array of deep fried things in sweet sauces along with great Kung Pao and Hunan style dishes. They also have probably the best lunch value in A2 with Soup/Salad/Appetizer/Entree/Rice/Tea for $6.99.
dancinginmysoul
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:41 p.m.
Soothslayer: well done. like a sir.
Soothslayer
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 5:38 p.m.
'Murican "Chinese" food? No.
dancinginmysoul
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:29 p.m.
I'd rather not have another restaurant in that area that sells their food in the frozen section of the grocery store.
A2nd
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:16 p.m.
fjord, which A2 Chinese restaurants would you recommend? Specifically those using high quality ingredients?
Youwhine
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 4:15 p.m.
Yeah, they have that huge parking lot which they could line with porta-potties.
fjord
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 1:15 p.m.
P.F. Chang's, really? You know we have some actually halfway decent Chinese food in Ann Arbor, right? I hear there's a Panda Express at Briarwood. Maybe you should try that.
Billy
Fri, Mar 1, 2013 : 1:04 p.m.
Overpriced and overhyped.....no way...thank you.