Less than two years ago, Karen Small and Jill Davis opened up Pearl Street Wine Market & Cafe, and, soon, at the end of March, they’ll be closing — for now, at least.
Small says the building’s current landlord, Harsax Management, increased the rent for the restaurant space to $11,000 (that's $7,000 more than the restaurant's previous rate, $4,000 a month). "It's not feasible for us or just about anybody in this neighborhood,” Small says.
The building’s current owners purchased the building about two years ago, from the community development corporation. According to Cuyahoga County property records, the building sold for $1,100,000 in 2021.
Randy Sacks, the CEO of Harsax Management, couldn’t confirm the precise rent increase but did say the management company raised the rent for the restaurant space to market rate, which is $25 per square foot. Sacks says he offered Small a discounted rate at 10% below market rate, at $22 per square foot.
“She was leased that space by the previous owner, which was Ohio City Incorporated. They’re a nonprofit whose whole purpose is to support local businesses,” Sacks says. “The rent they gave her at the time, which I think was five years ago … was less than half of market rent, and in fact they were subsidizing her.”
Two other units — office spaces on the second floor — are in the building at 2523 Market Ave. They were both rented out at market rate when Harsacks bought the building, and are not up for renewal.
“We love having Karen in our building, I think she’s one of the premier restaurateurs in Cleveland, and we’re very proud to have her and work with her,” Sacks says, “ and I still hope we can work something out, but we can’t afford to keep the building at those rents.”
Pearl Street Wine Market & Cafe is a newer concept in what was formerly the Flying Fig, Small’s flagship fine-dining restaurant that previously ran out of the restaurant’s space at 2523 Market Ave. for 23 years, and which earned Small a James Beard award nomination in 2018.
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"It's really unfortunate, because we put a lot of love into this place, and things were coming together really well,” Small says.
Small says she and Davis will plan on finding a new home for Pearl Street Wine Market & Cafe, and aim to stay in the Ohio City neighborhood, if possible. Juneberry Cafe, her brunch-focused concept on Lorain Ave., continues to operate normally.
As for when a reopening date could be, that’s an impossible question to answer: “It's going to be a scramble. It's probably going to take a little bit of time,” Small says.
For now, Small sounds disheartened.
"We've seen this happen in places like New York or Chicago, where landlords are getting super greedy, going in and putting people out of business,” Small says, “but I didn't think that would happen here. I didn't think that was going to happen in Cleveland."
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