I’ve walked by this joint countless times while it was under construction, I guess it’s finally open. How do you afford to hold onto a place like that for 10 years? Investors with unlimited piggy banks who don’t care? Signing a 20 year lease at cutthroat rates? Threats of physical violence?
Maybe the restaurant’s lease said they didn’t have to start paying until the build-out was complete.
Maybe the lease made the landlord responsible for major infrastructure such as ventilation, fire suppression, plumbing, electrical, and the like and they were slow in getting that done.
I think the place is actually called Soul Hollywood.
They didn’t.
Could be that a previous tenant was stuck with much of the rent. Or a landlord that doesn’t need the money. My daughter looked at two different possible bar sites, in the Bay Area, that were and still are, vacant for something like five plus years.
No previous restaurant tenant, I don’t think. The building was redeveloped.
Ginsberg’s bar (Bay and Mason), empty for the last 20+ years was finally demo’d a few months ago. The neighborhood was not the greatest in the past, but on the upswing now, with a Trader Joe’s across the street.
The two I was referring to were on Alameda (now leased) and in Old Town Pleasanton (still vacant).
Yealang is a former co-worker and I’m just glad she pulled it off.