While many Triangle restaurants are hurting, some landlords are waiving the rent
Global pandemic or not, the rent is inevitable.
But a few prominent landlords in downtown Raleigh are delaying the inevitable, giving their tenants a break now rather than see their spaces shuttered.
David Meeker, part owner of Trophy Brewing and landlord to several of Ashley Christensen’s restaurants, said he’s calling on property owners to waive rents for restaurant and retail tenants while many are closed and suffering amid measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus in North Carolina.
“It shouldn’t fall on retail and restaurant owners to figure this out on their own, they have enough problems on their hands,” Meeker said. “The landlords need to step up and be a teammate. Waiving the rent, that’s a hard decision. You need the rent to pay the mortgage. But landlords need to deal with hard times too sometimes.”
Among the landlords saying they’re waiving the rent are Niall Hanley at Morgan Street Food Hall and James Goodnight, who owns the Anchorlight building and other downtown Raleigh spaces.
Meeker said he’s striving for kindness with the gesture, but he said it’s not charity. He said he’s hoping he’ll still have tenants to pay rent once this economic pause is over. Meeker said he also doesn’t want to be blamed for forcing small businesses to close if he can help it.
“Big picture, this is way better for landlords; they waive the rent now and their tenants reopen when all of this is over,” Meeker said. “Those spaces could be empty for a long time, and then I’m not as well thought of in the community. My restaurant friends are happy with this idea. My real estate friends are not happy, but we need to put pressure on them to have these hard conversations.”
Last week, as North Carolina shut down restaurants to dine-in customers and many scrambled to set up takeout, the Triangle’s dining scene seemed to shift in an instant. Hanley’s Morgan Street Food Hall has been open for a little more than a year and two weeks earlier was filled nightly.
“They’re not doing any business so they’re not going to be able to pay the rent,” Hanley said. “It’s unprecedented, what’s going on. So this is a pause. ... Otherwise the restaurant carnage will be complete.”
Goodnight said he initially waived the rent for the Anchorlight studio in South Raleigh, because the events and exhibitions for many artists were canceled. Then he decided to waive the rent for two months across the board for all tenants. At best, Goodnight said he’s expecting to add the waived months back on to the end of the lease.
“Everyone is feeling the pinch right now,” Goodnight said. “I don’t want to lose good tenants because I nickle and dimed them right now.”
The landlords waiving the rent said they’ll take their case to their lenders and banks seeking their own relief, but Meeker said it’s a pain worth sharing.
“(Last) Monday everything fell out from underneath us; it seemed like the world was going to end,” Meeker said. “The world is not going to end. It’s really freaking ugly, but we’ll survive until tomorrow.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
