Mike Wolanin | The Republic Pictured is the front counter and window bar at Lucabe Coffee in downtown Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017.
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.”
Hodge said earlier this month that the new location along Haw Creek at 2531 Eastbrook Plaza Shopping Center in Columbus has “far exceeded” the downtown spot in performance. The coffee shop saw a reduction of about 40% from July to September downtown, and it was flat afterwards. He said contributing factors included students returning to school, weather growing colder, a lack of Cummins, Inc. employees downtown, more convenience at the new location, and fewer attractions to draw customers downtown.
While he expressed some optimism about downtown, he also said that he and other restaurant owners are concerned about the area, particularly amid the cold season.
“We’re essentially at a break-even level downtown,” Hodge said. “And that can be sustained for a period of time but not indefinitely.”
Officials said that the restaurant Bistro 310 vacated the Fourth Street space in December 2014, and efforts to find a new tenant in 2015 were unsuccessful. In August of 2016, the commission gave its approval for legal counsel to begin contract negotiations with Lucabe to open a shop in the 3,774-square-foot space.
Terms were finalized in February of 2017, and a five-year lease agreement was signed.
“They have two five year terms,” Pope said. “They are nearing the anniversary of their first term, and so they have one more five year term (available).”
