A piece in the Chico Enterprise-Record earlier this month detailed a complicated story. It showed how Empire Coffee and Tea in Chico was going to lose its lease and its landlord, the Chico Art Center, was going to take over and run it under a new name.
People were outraged. The Chico Art Center’s Facebook pagewas inundated with terrible reviews and irate comments about ruining a local treasure and doing a huge disservice to Empire owner Lindsay Brothers.
After all, the center’s a public non-profit, and they get the rail spur on which the train car sits — city-owned property — rent-free. Then, the Art Center collects rent from Empire — $575 a month — and 3.5 percent of the profits.
So were they just out to make more money?
“We have to find some way to survive.”
That’s Klint Kettell, director of the Chico Art Center. He talked about the mostly volunteer-run Art Center’s tight budget. On top of that, Brothers proposed a lease modification in November that would reduce the overall amount she would pay — and the center depends on revenue generate from Empire to continue its mission.
Kettell said because they couldn’t come to an agreement on that, in addition to noncompliance issues and what he says was a generally weakening performance financially from Empire, the Art Center decided to drop the lease.
This decision to try to operate a coffee shop out of the train car is a way to proactively stay solvent, especially in light of ever-dwindling city funding.
But one complaint about the Art Center’s decision was they aren’t a business, and shouldn’t try to run one — especially if it means yanking the lease on someone.
Another piece — this one coming from the Chico News and Review about a week after the E-R story — looked at the agreement between the city and the Art Center. In the deal, the Center pays no rent but does pay upkeep, which they say can total up to $15,000 a year. Years ago, the center also paid to restore the train-car itself, which had been gutted by fire.
Kettell said it was a calculated risk by the Art Center. And it’s still fine by the city: last time the deal was up for negotiation, he said the conversation went something like this:
“We can pay rent and you pick up all these expenses, or we’ll keep paying the expenses and you continue to give us the deal we have. They chose to give us the deal we have.”
For her part, Brothers said she would like to see something mutually beneficial come out of this, even if it does mean the end of their agreement. She didn’t necessarily expect the controversy generated by the E-R story, but…
“I stand confidently behind everything I have said and presented,” she said.
And, to all Empire customers, “I would thank you for supporting Empire Coffee and what it means to you.”
Both parties look at the facts differently. Brothers points to healthy overall sales, while the Art Center interprets the numbers differently. The Art Center describes the business as a more-or-less turnkey operation. Brothers says that’s not the case. Empire provided seating, appliances, the counter top and more, though some things included in the lease — like the espresso machine — are helpful.
In the latest development, the Chico Art Center’s offered a month-to-month lease extension to Brothers. She’s said that the new deal is not acceptable, and has counter-offered to renegotiate the lease, or to simply sell Empire’s assets to the Art Center.
As far as the city’s relationship with the Art Center, in Chico there isn’t a guiding policy on leasing city-owned property. At the last Chico City Council meeting, the council voted to send the issue to the Internal Affairs Committee.