Landing’s Restaurant: R.I.P.
After twenty-three years, Landing’s Restaurant has been forced to close. It didn’t close because of a lack of customers. It closed because of a rent dispute with the owner of Landing Mall.
Port Angeles seems to be in the middle of a wacky combination of recession and gentrification. Stores are going out of business, and the owner of the Landing Mall is jacking everybody’s rent waaay up and trying to bring in upscale businesses. Maybe it’s fun to pretend this is Bainbridge Island or Queen Anne Hill instead of the Olympic Peninsula. But will it work?
The owner of Landing’s Restaurant, Sandi Hartman, said she was in the middle of remodeling and moving items from the restaurant’s 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The landlord had the restaurant padlocked last Wednesday, while she was in the midst of making these changes.
The owner of the Landing Mall, Paul Cronauer, is conveniently “out of the country and unavailable for comment.” His wife Sarah claims that when they saw her moving things downstairs from the 2nd floor, they were afraid she was getting ready to run off without paying her rent, and that was why they locked the restaurant.
With the closing of Landing’s Restaurant, Port Angeles is losing a $350,000 annual payroll — 34 employees during the summer; eleven in the off season.
Port Angeles seems to be in the middle of a wacky combination of recession and gentrification. Stores are going out of business, and the owner of the Landing Mall is jacking everybody’s rent waaay up and trying to bring in upscale businesses. Maybe it’s fun to pretend this is Bainbridge Island or Queen Anne Hill instead of the Olympic Peninsula. But will it work?
The owner of Landing’s Restaurant, Sandi Hartman, said she was in the middle of remodeling and moving items from the restaurant’s 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The landlord had the restaurant padlocked last Wednesday, while she was in the midst of making these changes.
The owner of the Landing Mall, Paul Cronauer, is conveniently “out of the country and unavailable for comment.” His wife Sarah claims that when they saw her moving things downstairs from the 2nd floor, they were afraid she was getting ready to run off without paying her rent, and that was why they locked the restaurant.
With the closing of Landing’s Restaurant, Port Angeles is losing a $350,000 annual payroll — 34 employees during the summer; eleven in the off season.
Labels: Landing Mall, Landings Restaurant, Paul Cronauer, Sandi Hartman, Sarah Cronauer
posted by Tom Harper at 4:10 PM
18 Comments:
Cronauer is probably hiding out in some country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Why?
Well, he's cooked his books big time and is in some deep doo-doo with the I.R.S. The Taxmen came and took his accounts for some close scrutiny.
This is why he's raising the rent on existing tenants and trying to attract those upscale stores.
Cronauer is a crook! His crews built all those units at the Orchards on 14th st. He was trying to attract retirement age people. They are painted the most awful colors, and are way overpriced. Also, poorly planned out and put together. They are sitting empty. Wonder why?
I imagine he is desperate for money, and will stop at nothing to try to drum some up. So he picks on a great person with a great business. This is a sad loss.
It is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of...the Landing has gone from a quirky, dark mostly empty place, to a weird maze and a very empty place.
Greed does terrible things to a building, a city, and affects people. Too bad -- the owner is a self-centered moron, and everyone else suffers. But, then again, MANY of the owners of downtown buildings think they're in the middle of downtown Seattle with the rents they charge! Big egos, little town. Pathetic.
I finally visited the Landing for the first time in a long, long while to see what the changes were.
My memory of it was a quiet, empty, tomb-like atmosphere. It was depressing.
Now the mezzanine is floored up, and the downstairs courtyard is partitioned by walls. There are narrow corridors going past office buildings or closed businesses.
It is still quiet, empty and depressing. Only now it's claustrophobic and depressing.
Seriously, the city keeps whining about how they need a convention center. That would have made a good one. Now it's too boxed in. Shame. Not going to visit that again for awhile, and with the restaurant closed I have no reason to visit it at all.
Well...you all seem to have opinions about Mr. Cronauer that are clearly based on the ramblings of the Port Angeles rumor mill. Remember the basics folks...there are always 3 sides to every story. The article is only stating the views of Sandi Hartman.
There seems to be alot of grumblings about Mr. Cronauer's developments in the Port Angeles area. Why should a man be faulted for attempting to bolster the local economy?
umm, If I might answer the defender of Mr. C.....
Most people who deal with him have issues with him. The Landing has had more businesses depart than arrive, to date. The look/feel of the mall is not improved and the overall vision is lacking. (Perhaps the building doesn't lend itself to vitality and interest.) One would THINK that locking out a key tenant would be counter-intuitive to having a vibrant mall....in fact, it screams "wtf"!!! Rents are tooo high in this town...landlords and the city are too greedy. When there is a failing downtown, a failing mall on the water, and a white elephant of an uncompleted transit hub....one would THINK that high profile landlords would do anything to HELP tenants, keep more businesses going, and make whatever arrangements work and pull together. But, obviously, absentee landlords (leaving their wives to be mouthpieces and take actions) scream the message that they don't care, and its ONLY about the almighty dollar.
Mr. C. hasn't done a thing to help out his tenants, this town, or the neighbors of his waterfront albatross.
I know nothing about Cronauer. I do know Hartman and I don't like her.
I belonged to the business association for two years and that fat greedy bitch would go to the meetings in her big Cadillac SUV and bitch that the minimum wage should be lowered so that she could make more money.
Hopefully someone that wants to treat their employees will move in there. But in the long term I don't care if the place ends up empty, I've only been in it a few times in ten years.
To me it's always just been part of the gateway to Victoria and where the rich could afford to go. I eat at the Cornerhouse where the food is good, the service is good, and the help is good and the prices are reasonable. Billy
Billy:
You have too much anger in your heart...maybe you ought to go to church or sumthin'.
What do you drive, some POS??
After reading some of these posts, it's quite obvious why Port Angeles is a "dying" city. Yes, due in part to the state of the economy, but listen to yourselves!
Hiding out in a country with no extradition treaty? A crook because he built some ugly buildings? A self-centered moron? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but at the very least, put some substance behind it.
Cronauer is a business man, attempting to make a living. Not that different from you or I.
Ok, so some of you have issues with Cronauer...do you not have issues with your accountant, your lawyer, or your plumber? We all have issues with someone.
As for the issue with Sandi Hartman, she's already admitted to the Peninsula Daily News that she owed Cronauer money. In addition to that, if she's in a lease, as most commercial tenants are, then Cronauer wouldn't be able to raise the rent until the lease was due to be renewed. Read between the lines...if Hartman already owed Cronauer money, how was she to afford remodeling? If you thought your tenant was about to run off without paying their rent, would you not have done the same thing?
I agree with Billy, I don't know Cronauer that well, but I do know that if I were desperate for money, I wouldn't be locking my tenants out!
After reading some of these posts, it's quite obvious why Port Angeles is a "dying" city. Yes, due in part to the state of the economy, but listen to yourselves!
Hiding out in a country with no extradition treaty? A crook because he built some ugly buildings? A self-centered moron? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but at the very least, put some substance behind it.
Cronauer is a business man, attempting to make a living. Not that different from you or I.
Ok, so some of you have issues with Cronauer...do you not have issues with your accountant, your lawyer, or your plumber? We all have issues with someone.
As for the issue with Sandi Hartman, she's already admitted to the Peninsula Daily News that she owed Cronauer money. In addition to that, if she's in a lease, as most commercial tenants are, then Cronauer wouldn't be able to raise the rent until the lease was due to be renewed. Read between the lines...if Hartman already owed Cronauer money, how was she to afford remodeling? If you thought your tenant was about to run off without paying their rent, would you not have done the same thing?
I agree with Billy, I don't know Cronauer that well, but I do know that if I were desperate for money, I wouldn't be locking my tenants out!
How is it that a woman, in business for a quarter century, with ties to the community -- would "run out"? This makes no sense at all.
And, from what I've heard, all the leases were raised when Mr. C bought the building. Somehow I don't think there was much in the way of negotiations. I don't know if you've ever been IN business, because you seem as if you are a bit niave. If I don't like my accountant, I fire him/her. If I don't like my attorney, I fire him/her. But, when you are in a business, in a building, and anchored...you cannot just move, and, to make matters worse, you have no say on whom the city picks to own the building (city sold it to one of two bidders...they chose Mr. C.) And, consider that perhaps.... "remodeling" may have been to consolidate...as that would have made the most sense...to vacate part of the unit, to return it to the landlord. It would be a last ditch effort to stay afloat...but instead of asking "what'cha up to" the conclusion was "she's a'runnin'!" Makes no sense from a business perspective...none at all.
So, cut off his nose to spite his face, now he has a two level restaurant/bar thats sitting vacant, along with all the other empty space, in a DOWN ECONOMY. Yeah, Mr. C is a GENIUS..I'll tell you, a business genius.
Lizzy, you are clueless. Haven't you ever been screwed over by an employer? Billy
I am sorry to see the Landing go, I really did like the food. I walked in the Mall today, and it is very depressing to she how it looks right now. Even the Gallery that is on the lower lever will be moving the where Raven's World is now once they close.
Our downtown is dying, and things look empty and shuttered. It is very sad.
Wishing everyone the best in these economic times.
I don't know if downtown is dying exactly. I still remember how bad it looked in the mid-'90s. Even with all the businesses closing, it still looks better now than then.
Not to say that it's great now, but it's tons better than it was.
The economy will be fine...everyone needs to stop doomin' and gloomin'. The businesses that are closing would have closed anyway without the downturn.
Lizzy, you can't possibly be really as stupid as you post on here. Can you? First, anyone who identifies themselves as jizzy -- must be suffering from some low self esteem, a victim of incest, or is in junior high and doesn't really understand the concept (time to learn about birds and bees, sweetie).
Your posts are inane and childish. Grow up, or get an education...
So I have a choice?... to grow up OR get an education?
Anonymous at 1:15AM:
I don't know what you're talkin' about...I've had the nickname Lizzy Jizzy since I was little. My uncle started callin' me that (or LizzJizz) when I was about 5.
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