Queen Ann cafeteria going out of business!

[metro]

Was watching News 5 at 5pm and they said Queen Ann cafeteria in the old Founder's tower today announced they are going out of business due to a dispute with the new owners of the newly renamed 360. Sad to hear.

[writerranger]

Was watching News 5 at 5pm and they said Queen Ann cafeteria in the old Founder's tower today announced they are going out of business due to a dispute with the new owners of the newly renamed 360. Sad to hear.

This REALLY angers me! Talk about an institution in Oklahoma City!

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[writerranger]

HELP STOP THE RAILROADING OF QUEEN ANN!

I just talked with the owner of Queen Ann. He is devastated. "Stunned" is the word he used. I asked him if there was anything that could be done and he said he didn't feel this man would understand "public pressure." I think it's time for a grassroots campaign. He was open to the idea - just too exhausted to talk about it. He asked me to call him tomorrow....which I plan to do. Anybody here want to help? I specifically asked him if he wants to be there and be in business. He said, "Oh, absolutely. Yes!. I'm just stunned it looks like I won't be." He said they had promised to honor his lease which has eight (not six as had been reported) years remaining, and then......GREED. He was exhausted and it sounds like a case of a big, rich developer not caring about an OKC institution. Public pressure must be put on this guy. Who here can help? Email me at writerranger at gmail.com. This is a travesty. Poor guy sounded exhausted after trying to save a family business that's been there a LONG time. BTW, if something isn't done, he's looking at closing the doors forever on the 23rd of this month.

Time is of the essense.......

The owner of the tower is Jim Meyer, CEO of Bridgeport Development
Business Telephone: 232-0016
Business Fax: 232-5616
Email: mybuilder@bridgeportdevt.com
Contact Page with Form: Link to Bridgeport Development Group





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[writerranger]

We all talk about independant business and family-owned restaurants, etc.
Here's a chance to save one we already have!

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[BG918]

Maybe Queen Anne can be moved to a better location?

[Kerry]

Crap, here we go again.

[writerranger]

Maybe Queen Anne can be moved to a better location?

Too expensive. They have a very nicely decorated establishment. They have no equity in the restaurant as they have leased for decades there at the United Founders Tower.

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[Kerry]

If they have proven financial record they should have no problem obtaining a loan. If they did infact have 8 years left on their lease agreement they are most likly going to received a buyout offer. This should amount to the amount of profit they would expect to generate over that 8 year period.

[Pete]

Queen Ann to serve last meal
Disagreement with Founders Tower owners blamed for closing

By Steve Lackmeyer and Trisha Evans
Business Writers

A landmark Oklahoma City cafeteria is closing its doors Christmas Eve following a dispute with the new owners of Founders Tower.

Employees at Queen Ann Cafeteria were notified of the closing Monday afternoon, with signs posted Tuesday telling customers "your friendship will never be forgotten.”

Cafeteria owner John Schroer said Tuesday he has felt unwelcome since the building was sold last year to developers who are converting it from offices to condominiums.

"I'm trying not to be mad,” said Schroer, who has run the restaurant since 1972. "I'm upset, my customers are upset, and I have 54 employees who have 375 years of service, and all they could do is cry.”

Longtime customers like Georgia Wall were devestated by the news.

"I just saw the sign, and it just broke my heart,” Wall said. "You'll find a lot of the seniors come here just religiously.”

Don and Dorthy Duhme have been lining up to eat at Queen Ann's since the restaurant opened in 1965.

"For the past 15 years, we've come here at least twice a week,” Dorthy Duhme said. "It's always clean, and the food is always good — consistently good.”

Customer Joe Rector compared the closing to "a death in the family.” Bobbie Grimmett annually buys Thanksgiving dinner and pies at the cafeteria.

"This will be a shock to Oklahoma City,” Grimmett said. "The other cafeterias can't hold a candle to this.”

Schroer said the closing is not his choice, and blamed it on a dispute over a $690 plumbing bill. He cited a 12-year history with prior owners that allowed him to pay for repairs and then deduct the costs from his $6,000-a-month rent.

He said he already was at odds with the owners over whether some of his customers would be prohibited from using some of the tower's parking when he was told his $690 deduction was not acceptable.

Jim Meyer, chief executive officer of Bridgeport Development, said he sued Schroer over nonpayment of rent after Schroer sued the owners over plans to convert the tower to housing and future parking arrangements.

"I offered him 90 spaces, just trying to get this behind us, so that would we could continue with this very expensive project,” Meyer said. "I don't have any animosity toward the restaurant. I like it.”

Meyer said a court ruled in his favor last week, giving him possession of the property. Meyer said he gave Schroer no deadline to close, and remains willing to negotiate their differences.

"I'm saddened by this,” Meyer said. "We've had every desire for Queen Ann to be a part of the new Founders Plaza project.

"We've tried to work with him, but he's been a difficult tenant.”

[jbrown84]

It doesn't sound like their being forced to close. It sounds like the guy's just mad at the developers. There's nothing in there about breaking their lease or kicking them out. He's giving up.

[BailJumper]

We live in a capitalist country so I don't see why people are demanding action against the developer aka PROPERTY OWNER. It is his property to do as he likes.

The owners of the cafeteria knew the risk they ran by leasing as opposed to owning. And I agree, if they have a good business plan, credit and financial stability they would be able to secure a loan to relocate.

I'm sure their lease gave an out to either party should the building sell.

It's called business folks - not greed.

[Pete]

It sounds like the new owners aren't very keen to keep QA and the place certainly doesn't seem to fit their new ideas and development plan.

It also sounds like the owners of the QA realize this and don't want to fight the battle any longer, otherwise why would they close up shop after 30+ years over a $690 plumbing bill?

[Karried]

Meyer said he gave Schroer no deadline to close, and remains willing to negotiate their differences.

Maybe there is still hope.. sounds like the person we need to convince to work it out is the owner of the restaurant unless I'm reading it wrong.

Writerranger, did you (or can you) compose a letter or email that we can all copy, modify and send to the powers that be?

At this point, I'm a little muddled on what to ask for...

[jbrown84]

Maybe there is still hope.. sounds like the person we need to convince to work it out is the owner of the restaurant unless I'm reading it wrong.

That's how I read it.

[SoonerDave]

You wouldn't shut the thing down over a $690 dispute, and that leads me to believe there's something else going on. My personal interpretation is that there is personal static between the two and this is just a public manifestation of it.

I'm as big a capitalist as the next guy, but the Queen Anne is a city landmark, and if the new owners of the Founders Tower are being problematic about it behind the scenes, shame on them.

My mom goes to Queen Anne frequently, and she was stunned when she saw this in the paper.

And to think we're going to replace this cafeteria with some snobbish, insufferable yuppie condo complex. Yeah, that's real progress. The new owners will probably be kind enough to stuff something really unique its place, like a freaking Starbucks. What a load of crap.



-SoonerDave

[writerranger]

We live in a capitalist country so I don't see why people are demanding action against the developer aka PROPERTY OWNER. It is his property to do as he likes.

The owners of the cafeteria knew the risk they ran by leasing as opposed to owning. And I agree, if they have a good business plan, credit and financial stability they would be able to secure a loan to relocate.

I'm sure their lease gave an out to either party should the building sell.

It's called business folks - not greed.

Some things aren't the same after relocation. You obviously don't understand the landmark status of the Queen Ann.

Make no mistake - John Schroer wants to stay where he is. In the channel 9 report he states flatly he was informed Friday that they must leave. This is NOT over a $690 plumbing bill!

I wouldn't trust this MEYER fella as far as I could throw him. It's all about $$$. (Of course.)
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[craig461]

I agree, I would hate to see Queen Ann go out of business. However, I'm not sure they are. Everyone is reacting to the notion that some big corporate entity has taken over and is forcing them out of business. Such is not the case. Queen Ann had been deliquent on rent, and any attempt in negotiations had failed. John Schroer, owner of Queen Ann, did not want to come to the bargaining table. Long story short, the court ruled in favor of Founders Tower Condominimus, saying that Queen Ann had breeched their contract. The ruling effectively terminated their lease and turned the property over to Founders. Founders has tried repeatedly to ensure Queen Ann stays around for another 42 years, but Schroer refuses to talk to Founders about what can be done to keep his business alive. Now...no one with Founders has ever communicated in any way whatsoever that they have to shut their doors. In fact, every year Queen Ann closes on Dec. 23 to celebrate the holidays and re-opens in early January. Seems to me that Schroer is simply trying to pull at OKC's heart strings and make Founders look like the bad guy, when they are absolutely not (surely OKC won't fall for words without proof?!). Just the opposite is the case. When Founders Condominimums, LLC took over, they paid for a new 2.5 ton A/C unit, along with various other repairs and maintenence previous owners had neglected. So, seems to me that Founders isn't as bad as Schroer or anyone else would have you believe.

[writerranger]

self-delete

[writerranger]

Who the HELL are you? MR. MEYER himself? Talk about turning red into blue and turning the table!

Look, the owner of Queen Ann did what he's done for DECADES and deducted the amount for small plumbing work off the rent. Mr. MEYER, after taking over, says "No, that's not how we do it." He immediately saw it for what it technically was: a breach of contract. "He was late on his rent!" "Breach of Contract" "Take him to court and get a judgment which effectively terminates the lease!" "YESSS!!!!" "Perfect!!!" It was exactly what MEYER wanted and he apparently will get it. Now he can put something more in line with his "vision" (which I supported, but no more. He can go straight to you know where as far as I'm concerned. Greedy bas&%rd.) Do you not think we can see right through that BS, "Craig"?????? That post was written (his first on the forum) as a response from Mr. MEYER - make no mistake about it. This greedy developer has the guts and the GALL to try to make this look like Mr. Schroer's fault. Unbelievable. Craig, if you are Mr. MEYER, I hope you realize how many people you have ticked off playing this little legal game to get what you wanted. So typical. I don't know if Craig is MEYER or not, as far as I know his name is Craig Goldstein or Craig Smith. But, he just laid out the lie and legal game that MEYER pulled on a good man and his cafeteria. Now, he can put in something "hip." What a jerk.

And yes, I'm sorry for being so harsh. But, this is just a travesty.

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[BailJumper]

Yummmmm, if they do put in a Starbucks then I'll probably stop by.

'Landmark'? Give me a break. You can slap that title on anything that happens to have been around for awhile. Things change, get over it.

So, if the Red Dog losses its lease (actually I think Ray owns the building, but work with me here) are you gonna fight hard for that precious landmark to stay put?

It's a cafeteria folks! It's not a piece of history as much as a piece of habit. If the food became lousy tomorrow everyone would just find somewhere else to feed their face.

The new owner could bulldoze it for more parking for all I care - it's his property.

Trust me, there is something else at work here. If the business was doing well then they wouldn't just let it die unless they wanted it to.

[craig461]

I am not Mr. Meyer. I'm just an informed person who doesn't necessarily believe everything I see on TV or read in the newspaper. It would seem, however, that you do. It appears, Writerranger, to be a smart guy. You're certainly not a bad writer (thus your screen name, I'm sure), so I encourage you to get all the information in front of you before you jump off a cliff and ask everyone else to follow suit. Question: You posted Mr. Meyer's contact info in a previous posting. Have you called him?

[craig461]

Forgive my typo.

[John]

I think we should relocate the Queen Anne Cafeteria to the old John A. Brown estate.

[Kerry]

How stupid can a person be to pay $6,000 per month rent for 12 years. You think he would have bought his space a long time ago.

[soonerguru]

This story pissed me off so much I nearly barfed up my otherwise delicious steak dinner!

WTF is wrong with some people? You could see this coming a mile away when the jerkwater was quoted as saying something like "we'll honor their lease" when asked about Queen Ann's. It's a freaking institution, for crying out loud.