urbanSTL

STLrainbow wrote: ↑

Jun 19, 2018

Per Biz Journal, Dao Tien Bistro is moving from the UCity Olive strip to take over the old SanSai space. I wonder if in part due to the unease over the proposed Novus development.... U City is messing with a pretty good thing, imo.

SenSai actually did pretty well. I was surprised when they closed. It's a cool space with the weird historic details left over. I hope they can fix it up some.

Great news and a smart move by Dao Tien. They should do well. It's a great space too.

Copia Wine Bar is expanding to Clayton and Des Peres. In the Business Journal article, the owner is quoted as saying he is doing this because "it was nothing more than survival" because "no one is going downtown like they used to." Also says he doesn't want to close downtown but may have to this year unless things drastically change.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -wine.html

Nobody goes to Copia should be the wording. The place sucks and it’s 16,000 sq freaking feet + 8000 outside, You could have a 100 people in there and it feel empty because everyone gets 240 sq feet or a large bedroom to themselves

Dao Tien is indeed great. Glad to see them downtown!

According to someone at Dao Tien, they are NOT leaving U City. The downtown restaurant will be a second location.

5 restaurants set to open this month downtown, per STL Mag. And at least one opened last month and several more set to open after July.

https://www.stlmag.com/dining/st-louis- ... june-2018/

This list does not count whatever is going on with the Center Cafe at the old Metro space at the Convention Center.

Nice. Looking good.

I feel like it's only a matter of time until Guerrilla Street Food expands to Downtown, too. Though, logically, I imagine they would pop one open in the county somewhere.

STLrainbow wrote: ↑

May 11, 2018

Hopefully some good news coming to Wash Ave.... the Manofsky Shoe building that hasn't been contributing to WashAve street activity recently was sold and is undergoing a bit of renovation. Looks like they are leasing the basement and first floor for retail and second flood for office.



Looks like the first floor may have a restaurant coming but it'd be great if some other retail that could compliment adjacent Star Clipper could come, too. Record shop or STL-Style downtown location would be great!

Per biz journal sub article, Red Oak Biscuits owner will be opening a new restaurant in one space and an event hall in another; not sure if more space is still available for lease.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ncept.html
“This is a neighborhood that’s at the tipping point,” Schulze said. “We want to contribute where we can.”

That's awesome! I also can't believe I've never heard of that place yet. Definitely stopping in for breakfast or brunch soon.

Red Oak is great. ive been there 2 dozen times since moving to downtown in August.
Derek is a great person, lives downtown and is investing in downtown

Wash Ave Post Closing.

I used to live by this place when I lived downtown. Sad to see it go

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... doors.html



Sidenote: I went to Red Oak over the weekend because of the biz journal article. I thought it was really good. I will be back for sure. It was a great weekend to use their outdoor tables.

^ if I read that right they hope to sell what they say is a profitable biz.... hopefully that happens.

^ but why pay for it, when you can just let them close in August and get the place for free in September and name it Wash Ave Shop

i think the real issue was that the landlord wanted a major rent hike...same thing happened to a successful salon 13th & Wa, which was as the name indicates at 13th and Washington, wanted $2000 more a month so they moved to Tucker above Asia Gourmet (across the street from Jeff Arms)

Erm... yeah. We aren't LA or NYC or Chicago. I can't believe there are landlords who are gouging their tenants. How does anyone ever expect to be able to reasonably make a good living in a small business venture with lease rates like that?

One just wonders, why oh why, Dubliner's is still vacant. Are the price hikes pretty commonplace around Downtown?

Rent was not a factor in Wash Post closing. They simply are done running a profitable business.


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Knickerbocker ground floor and Wash Ave Post building are not the same owners.

Chris Sommers to reopen Gringo in old Robust space at MX.
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... user-share

Porano to close. Too bad.

wabash wrote: ↑

Jul 24, 2018

Porano to close. Too bad.

I saw they listed less convention traffic as a reason. I thought convention traffic was up since the Rams left?

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Jul 24, 2018

wabash wrote: ↑

Jul 24, 2018

Porano to close. Too bad.

I saw they listed less convention traffic as a reason. I thought convention traffic was up since the Rams left?

This is horrible news; I was a regular and it always seemed reasonably busy at lunch time. Very odd that they would rebrand with a new menu (and have to retrain everyone) with just two weeks left in business. Also, I walked by yesterday and they were closed for what looked like employee training. I feel like there has to be more to the story here, because I'm not buying the convention traffic explanation.

I have no data or true insights, only anecdotes.

Some thoughts:

Porano almost always seemed busy at lunch on weekdays. Perhaps 5 solid sales periods/week isn't enough to make a profit.

The restaurant competition on that block is fierce. Pi, Taze, Snarf's, Crazy Bowls, SugarFire, that new Thai place (not Sen), and soon to be Gringo. Honestly, it's too many restaurants. not surprised some are closing

Convention traffic is the highest it's been in years. Seemingly at least. Not sure why he's calling that out.

With Craft taking over the new restaurant at the Four Seasons, maybe he's picking his battles. That's going to be a very high-end place and imagine it takes enormous planning/effort.



With all that said, I'm really going to miss it. Great looking space and great food.

Either he is wrong regarding convention traffic or there is a huge shortage of hotel rooms downtown. My employer often has to book hotel rooms for weeklong visitors and it's very difficult to find available rooms downtown (we have to host our visitors at the Chase or in Clayton etc).

I think it was a Business Journal a couple of weeks ago mentioned that the Embassy Suites at the MX was one of their top 5 performing properties. They did not mention how that was defined though.