Point Reyes’ Station House Cafe extends lease - Marin Independent Journal

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The Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station will remain open through Labor Day after a last-minute agreement was reached between the cafe owner and landlords.

The 56-year-old cafe was set to close on June 1 after disagreements on a proposed rent increase led to an impasse during lease renewal negotiations.

Cafe owner Sheryl Cahill said she plans to keep the cafe open through Labor Day, but still intends to close and relocate the restaurant after the temporary lease extension ends.

“My staff was very happy to hear that they could continue working through the summer,” Cahill said. “The community reaction has been very positive. Many folks have reached out to me to express their delight in learning that we will be open all summer.”

Under the extended lease, the cafe will be paying a reduced rent of $1,500, according to one of the property owners, Kirsten Hural. The cafe was paying nearly $8,400 per month under its previous lease agreement from 2005. The 2005 rent went unchanged under a lease extension in 2015.

“Our motivation in offering this extension was for the community to have a restaurant operating in the space during the summer months, and for the employees to keep their jobs during the pandemic,” Hural wrote in an email.

The lease renewal negotiations began before the coronavirus pandemic. Hural said they proposed a higher rent because the rent negotiated in 2005 does not reflect the current fair market value of the property.

After the pandemic began, Hural said she offered reduced rent and rent deferment options that would last until the shelter-in-place orders were lifted. Cahill said the new rate would not allow her to sustain her business.

Cahill posted on Facebook in May to announce the closure and the new lease proposal, which generated an outcry from patrons and the public. Cahill said she later took down the post because of some of the strong reactions.

There are disagreements between Hural and Cahill on why the lease extension was offered.

When the cafe began to close down operations in May, Cahill said the landlords reached out by email to offer the reduced rent if she wanted to remain open through the summer.

“They expressed that they thought it would be good for Station House Cafe to be able to continue through the summer and they said that after the response to our announcement, they felt the community would appreciate it as well. I couldn’t agree more,” Cahill said.

Hural said the statements by Cahill and others that the extension offer was a response to the public outcry on Facebook are untrue.

“We were discussing this type of offer even before Sheryl’s Facebook post, because we knew she was planning to close the restaurant instead of negotiating on a new lease,” Hural wrote.

The cafe began dining service again on Friday after the county began allowing restaurants to launch outdoor dining this month.

“While there are many restrictions that we are required to enforce, guests dining with us today were just happy to be able to sit down, enjoy a meal that wasn’t home-cooked and relax while we offered full service — just like the old days,” Cahill said.

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Point Reyes’ Station House Cafe extends lease - Marin Independent Journal
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