One of many oldest eating places within the Pike Place Market space — a restaurant so outdated it predates the market itself — is shutting down in two weeks. The Virginia Inn introduced on social media over the weekend that it could shut completely on Sunday, April 27, “on account of failed negotiations for an equitable lease” with its landlord.
The Virginia Inn (or V.I. for brief) opened in 1903 as a part of the now long-defunct Resort Livingston on the nook of Virginia Avenue and First Avenue. Pike Place Market opened in 1907 simply steps away, and because the years glided by the Virginia Inn grew to become a dependable cease for market-goers and anybody who discovered themselves downtown. It’s outdated however not pretentious, filled with darkish wooden however not stuffy. It modified homeowners a number of instances over time, most just lately in 2019, when it was purchased by restaurant vets Karl Sexton and Craig Perez.
It serves the sort of acquainted Northwest delicacies widespread to the market space: Penn Cove mussels, fish and chips, burgers — not 1,000,000 miles away from what’s served at close by eating places just like the Athenian, Lowell’s, or Matt’s within the Market. However Sexton and Perez (who purchased out his companion final yr) stored costs comparatively inexpensive, and the V.I. retained a sort of homespun grungy allure; it mainly seems prefer it did when Singles shot a scene there.
Even V.I. regulars might not have identified that the restaurant’s landlord is the Pike Place Market Preservation and Improvement Authority (PDA), the nonprofit that runs the market. Since March 2024, Perez advised the Seattle Occasions, the restaurant had been working on a month-to-month lease. “The one sticking level that I had with our lease was the percentage-based lease that [the PDA] fees on prime of the bottom lease and the upkeep,” Perez advised the paper, “and that’s 6% of our whole gross sales after $1.2 million.” Perez wished to regulate that $1.2 million for inflation however was unable to succeed in an settlement, and the PDA ordered him to vacate by the tip of the month.
Eater Seattle was unable to succeed in Perez straight as of Monday morning. A spokesperson for the PDA emailed in an announcement that “we don’t talk about the small print of particular person leases.” They did add, nonetheless: “Over a number of months, the PDA provided quite a few alternatives to both negotiate a brand new lease or promote the enterprise, however Virginia Inn didn’t pursue both path. In consequence, the PDA was compelled to finish the month-to-month tenancy.”
“As a public company, we should guarantee leases are constant throughout tenants and can’t provide considerably decrease phrases to 1 enterprise over others,” the spokesperson added.
On Instagram, the Virginia Inn has been clear that it blames the PDA for pushing it out, encouraging followers to electronic mail PDA officers and even Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell (who appoints some PDA board members). It has additionally shared photographs in Instagram tales of consumers who’ve written “Fuck the Market” on checks, with the caption, “I imply we didn’t say it, however…”
Within the closure announcement publish the restaurant wrote, “We wish to keep!” but it surely was unclear if there was any pathway for the V.I. to barter a brand new lease on the eleventh hour and stay.
The PDA spokesperson stated that although the Virginia Inn will shut on April 27, the hope is for it to reopen beneath new administration. “Our objective shifting ahead is to discover a new companion and steward for this Seattle icon so it will probably stay part of the Market,” they wrote.
“We acknowledge and admire Virginia Inn’s lengthy historical past on the Market, and we share within the disappointment surrounding its closure.”
