Considered one of Seattle’s most publicly contentious landlord-tenant relationships in current months has resolved, and the historic Virginia Inn is staying open, proprietor Craig Perez introduced on social media on Wednesday, April 28. “This morning we acquired a last-minute reprieve of the eviction discover,” he wrote, “with plans to discover a path ahead.”
This comes as a shock. Two weeks in the past, Perez introduced that the Virginia Inn, the old-school downtown restaurant he purchased in 2019, could be closing as a result of lease negotiations had damaged down. The owner is the Pike Place Market Preservation and Improvement Authority (PDA), the nonprofit that runs the close by market. On social media, Perez inspired V.I. followers to contact PDA officers and native politicians, and shared supportive messages like photographs of consumers writing “Fuck the Market!” on checks.
In an interview with the Stranger, Perez claimed that folks on the PDA “don’t like me” and mentioned that he had taken the century-old Virginia Inn log out the constructing and introduced it house — one other level of competition with the PDA, which claimed that it, not Perez, owned the signal. (“Oh, they’re mad. They really threatened a police report. They threatened to have me arrested,” Perez instructed the Stranger.)
However apparently the edges have been in negotiation regardless of the general public battle. In an announcement, a PDA spokesperson mentioned that to keep away from a shutdown through the summer season, “the present tenant [Perez] will proceed operations by way of early September, whereas actively working with the PDA to establish a brand new operator… Moreover, the present proprietor has dedicated to returning the historic signal, which is able to stay previous a transition of possession in addition to the historic bar and cubicles.”
Perez didn’t reply to Eater Seattle’s request for remark. In an Instagram Story, the Virginia Inn account mentioned that the signal “is being repaired and will likely be reinstalled ASAP.”
The PDA has maintained all through this saga that the Virginia Inn, each the bodily area and the metaphysical model, would proceed with out Perez simply because it has modified possession a number of occasions earlier than. The query was whether or not it might shut down briefly whereas a brand new proprietor was discovered — now apparently the possession transition will likely be a lot smoother.
“We need to reaffirm that the PDA is absolutely dedicated to the Virginia Inn’s long-term future on the Market,” the PDA’s assertion learn. “Whereas possession could change, the Virginia Inn is right here to remain. Each the present tenant and the PDA are working in partnership to seek out the fitting new operator to proceed this necessary legacy.”
