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Update and clarification, July 13, 12 pm: In a conversation July 13, property owner Todd Deneffe says that his plans to construct new housing on the property may not happen in 2016, as the Baowry's lease ends. He adds that he had worked with the restaurant owners to help keep the restaurant going. "I introduced them to bank investors," says Deneffe. "I said, 'What can we do to save this place?" The headline and article have been changed to reflect the flexible timeline on Deneffe's plans for the property.
Original story:
Landlord Todd Deneffe tells WW he plans to tear down popular St. Johns restaurant and bar The Baowry and put up multifamily housing, possibly as soon as next year.
"The neighborhood's changing fast," says Deneffe, who heads Cascade Commercial Real Estate, referring to multiple recent developments including a large housing project at the former site of Huk Lab disc golf pro shop. "You can't even call St. Johns affordable anymore."
In 2012, the Baowry was a pivotal part of that change. After running a food cart serving up the titular Chinese-influenced bao sandwiches, Baowry's owners took over a dilapidated, notorious drug house in St. Johns at 8307 N. Ivanhoe St., with broken windows and wrecked interiors, and created a charmingly domestic restaurant with a carnival flair.
"We pretty much had to renovate this entire house," said cart founder Ross Skomsvold at the time. "I mean, it was destroyed."
The Asian-eclectic restaurant—home to its trademark bao, gingery braised greens and playful cocktails—quickly became a neighborhood fixture. "On weekdays, the spot's small bar space is packed elbow-to-elbow with regulars and down-the-street locals," we wrote in 2013. "As irregulars arrive to sit at the Baowry's tables, they are greeted with casual surprise from behind the bar."
Deneffe's plans were news to Baowry co-owner Alan Torres when WW contacted him Wednesday. Torres says communication between the restaurant and Deneffe had broken down over the last year.
"It sucks," says Torres, "because I'm like, hey Todd, we need to talk if you're trying to sell it, so I'm prepared... A couple years ago he was trying to tell me he would sell it to Pizzicato, and I said he can't break the lease. He was so mad."
Bruno Schulz architects submitted a proposal in March to build five townhouses on the property, but Deneffe says that's already "old news." He still plans housing, but is entertaining other options, such as a mixed-use apartment complex with bottom-floor retail. "But nothing's happening until next year," he says.
The restaurant's lease expires in August 2016. According to Torres, one of the terms of his lease is that no one but him can buy the house until the lease expires. "When I took over the house to fix it for my landlord," says Torres, "my plan was to buy the house. But you open a restaurant you don't make money in the first three years. I told him there's no chance I'll buy it anytime soon. [Todd] says, 'Well, then I'll sell it.'"
Torres says he'd renovated the house using his own money, some of which in loans.
"Whatever happens," says Torres, "I'm not gonna go down without a fight. I don't mean that in a negative way. But we were one of the first places to come into this neighborhood. We did change St. Johns a lot. And now it feels like I'm the one being pushed out."
WWeek 2015