Chef Kevin Rathbun won’t be reopening Rathbun’s and Krog Bar in Inman Park’s The Stove Works adjacent Krog Street Market, at 112 Krog St. NE.
But it’s not because of financial hardship brought on by being forced to temporarily close mid-March in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“The decision to close Rathbun’s and Krog Bar has absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus,” Rathbun in a telephone interview Monday told What Now Atlanta (WNA).
Instead, the lease at the space was up, and Rathbun and The Stove Works’ new owner, Asana Partners, couldn’t reach renewal terms.
“I had until the end of 2020 to make a decision but the increase in rent really wasn’t my cup of tea.”
Asana Partners is planning on tearing down the restaurant space and building a breezeway to the Atlanta BeltLine, according to Rathbun.
“Asana Partners won’t be providing a statement,” a company spokesperson Tuesday told WNA.
Rathbun’s and Krog Bar, staples in Inman Park for nearly 17 years “before the area was cool,” could reopen in a year or two.
But as with sister eatery Kevin Rathbun Steak, Rathbun will only reopen the restaurants in buildings he owns.
One possible option for Krog Bar is actually adjacent Kevin Rathbun Steak, the chef said.
“Leasing is not something I want to do anymore. Buying a property would be the best thing.”
Rathbun’s “lofty goal” would be to at least reopen Krog Bar in mid-to-late 2021.
The chef is keeping the restaurant’s furntiture, marble bar, etc., with the plans of reusing it all in a new space.
As for Rathbun’s, “I just haven’t found that building yet.”
Sister concepts Kevin Rathbun Steak and KR Steakbar could reopen as early as June 2, 2020, at which point the nearly $100,000 in pre-sold gift cards by parent company Rathbun’s Restaurant Group to “assist our furloughed hourly employees” can be redeemed by patrons.
9 Responses
Ok, first of all he sold $100,000 worth of gift cards? — holy crap!
Second, they’re tearing that space down to make a breezeway???
So does Kevin Rathbun own that whole building that Kevin Rathbun Steak is in?
The writing has been on the wall for a while with that landlord pushing tenants out of Stove Works (not raising rents, just telling tenants to scram due to redevelopment plans). Still a bummer to see one of the all-time great Atlanta restaurants close. They are good people.
Rathbun Steak probably owns its own space but not the whole building. There’s usually a unit or two for sale there.
Interesting.
Do you know what the redevelopment plans are, and are they because of the Beltline?
I also didn’t know that the Rathbun Steak building had spaces for sale.
So Asana Partners is out of Charlotte, NC.
They also bought the Plaza Theatre, Majestic retail complex.
They own Krog Street Market, all the SPX retail, Stoveworks, the ones you mentioned, and the new strip next to Staplehouse. They seem to overpay for the retail spots and then squeeze their tenants dry. I haven’t heard one good thing about them tbh.
Ohmygosh, that’s sad!
Obviously C-19 doesn’t have anything to do with their past history as landlords, but this pandemic is really shining a light on some crappy landlords.
I’m a landlord, and my tenant is now paying a percentage of his sales as rent– instead of a fixed monthly amount.
I can’t understand some of these landlords that are showing no flexibility at this time…
I had an office in Stove Works for several years ending in 2019. The previous landlord was actually worse in our experience. With the new owner, it’s hard to fault them too much for wanting to reconfigure things to take advantage of the Beltline.
There is so much debt at every level of society, it would not surprise me if some of the landlords aren’t showing any flexibility because they’re leveraged to the eyeballs and cannot survive rent disruptions. We’ll find out soon enough when landlord bankruptcies start failing up to more bank bailouts.
It’s just so hard finding a new tenant that’s ‘the right fit’– particularly in a depressed economy.
It will be interesting to see the fate of the office building, now that
companies have been forced to let their employees telecommute.
They also own the Atlanta Belting Company building, which is now vacant.