Friday, May 9, 2008

Petit Soleil The Restaurant News

...the second location...
The VixseBoxse Art gallery on Cedar Road in the Heights Center Building (Cedar-Fairmount neighborhood) will close it's doors this fall. (Edit 7/11/08: please note the business is not closing! Vixseboxse will remain an active business.) I've toured the space twice and met with the managing partner/owner to discuss the possibility of installing Petit Soleil in this delightful location. He supplied for me a letter of intent which outlined in very straightforward terms what looks and feels like a wonderful opportunity. Just yesterday I visited the space with my architect/project coordinator, Joe Hanna. Joe's a terrific guy who, I believe, has a very good sense of my vision for Petit Soleil...not to mention his knowledge and experience doing restaurants (I think it's this month he sees four of his restaurant projects opening their doors!). Having seen some rudimentary architectural drawings of the space, Joe had expressed concerns of square footage and seating capacity. These were alleviated during the walk-through. He seemed very optimistic about the possibilities for the space and it's size. This was, of course, music to my ears. He will be working on drawings, a proposal for the build out, to submit to the owners for their review. I hope to present them with this and more when I return for Europe. June will be a busy month, if this stays on track and the owners interest remains constant. I should be able to sign the LOI and start work on lease negotiations in June. Also, I've made some new, very promising bank contacts that should help me wrap up the financing. They've already made some good suggestions that I plan to adopt.
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And with that, my friends, I must say a bientot. We leave on Sunday and there is still much to do. The excitement builds as hours fall by. Prague! How cool is that? I can't wait!