COLUMBUS, Ind. — A locally–owned coffee shop is seeking more time to consider the future of its downtown location.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission will consider a resolution on Monday amending its lease with Lucabe, LLC. The commission’s meeting is set for 4 p.m.
According to Redevelopment Director Heather Pope, the business has requested to extend its notice to renew or terminate by 90 days. The five-year lease for Lucabe Coffee Co.’s downtown location at 310 Fourth St., is set to end on March 31, 2022; the change would move it to June 30.
Co-founder and co-owner Tyler Hodge said that the owners are seeking this extension so that they have more time to discuss the next lease term. If the end date remained set for March, they would have to have a set plan by the end of December, he explained.
The coffee shop opened a second location in midtown Columbus a few months ago. The 5,000-square-foot renovated structure, designed by world-renowned, Chicago-based architect Harry Weese, was originally as an Irwin Union Bank and Trust that later became First Financial Bank until spring 2020.
“Given the state of downtown’s much lower traffic numbers, we aren’t sure we will be renewing under the current terms, so we need time to discuss through that,” he said. “We don’t intend on going anywhere, but downtown isn’t the same it was two years ago, and there’s not much clarity yet that it will be changing dramatically in 2022.”
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
