I’ve heard through the grapevine that the Brownstone on Main has shut down operations for a few weeks while they go through a restructuring period.
The owners of the restaurant remained quiet during the Dispatch reports of their recent patio problems, but that issue could be the cause of their temporarly closing.



yes I’ve heard a little about their “restructuring”. A very carefully chosen word…
“Restructuring”?
Closed doors = zero income here… what gives? How can a business afford to do that and what does “restructuring” mean?
Well, the rumor mill says they probably won’t be opening back up. I think the whole patio fiasco put a hurt on them and they might not be able to pull back out.
I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that something positive can come out of it. Even if the Brownstone goes under, the space is beautiful and a new restaurant could easily move in there afterwards.
How does putting in a rogue patio kill your business? I mean… pull it out and make it right. There must be more to this story.
I work with a guy who does event planning there part time, and he says Brownstone is done and won’t reopen. I told him that I read here that it was “temporary” and he said that it’s for good as far as he’s heard.
From what I’ve heard, they’ve sunk a lot of money into the business initially. Then they decided to sink money into the patio (to increase business). Then they had to sink more money into removing the patio, which resulted in zero business.
So the patio issue is what pushed their finances into the danger zone.
Running a restaurant is a pretty financially unstable business. And to throw thousands into a project in anticipation of it increasing business and having it result in absolutely nothing is enough to probably take just about any restaurant under.
:?
So the patio issue is what pushed their finances into the danger zone.
Running a restaurant is a pretty financially unstable business. And to throw thousands into a project in anticipation of it increasing business and having it result in absolutely nothing is enough to probably take just about any restaurant under.
So the moral of the story is… get your building permit organized *before* you build your project?
So the patio issue is what pushed their finances into the danger zone.
Running a restaurant is a pretty financially unstable business. And to throw thousands into a project in anticipation of it increasing business and having it result in absolutely nothing is enough to probably take just about any restaurant under.
So the moral of the story is… get your building permit organized *before* you build your project?
Funny… I took the moral to be, “Build your patios in the sky.”
Yeah, I think they thought they had approval, but didn’t. I don’t think anyone is placing the blame on anyone other than the restaurant owners themselves. It’s just a shame that something couldn’t have been worked out better.
Ultimately, I think a sidewalk extention in that exact spot with a large patio for a restaurant would be a bigger benefit to that neighborhood than the open alley would. There are dozens of these types of alleyway-blockades on High Street through the Short North, Downtown, and OSU areas and no one really seems to mind them at all there.
Not to mention that the Brownstone was an awesome restaurant and it is good to have spots like that downtown. I’ll be sad if it closes. I didn’t get there often because I would easily drop $100+ on food.wine… but I loved having it as an option.
Really? Where?
Really? Where?
…yeah, I can think of one on campus, and maybe one in the Short North…but not dozens.
Really? Where?
Starting from the split and working my way north on High Street….
- Noble St (both east and west of High)
- Cherry st (west of High) (east of High it was removed for the City Center Garage)
- Lynn St (both east and west of High)
- Elm St (both east and west of High)
- Lafayette St (west of High) (east of High it was removed for a parking lot)
- Hickory St (east of High) (west of High it was removed for the Nationwide complex)
- 13th Ave (east of High)
- 14th Ave (east of High)
- 16th Ave (east of High)
- 18th Ave (east of High)
I’m drawing a blank on ones in the Short North. Perhaps there’s aren’t any and I just thought there were since there are quite a few Downtown and at OSU. And perhaps by “dozens” I actually meant “a bakers dozen” since I named 13 of them. ;)
I think the blockade at Lafayette St on High is probably the best example of what the blockade/patio at Brownstone could have looked like since that’s where the patio for the Elevator can be found.
Now that you mention it. The Elevator’s patio is exactly the same. But it looks stupid and doesn’t even let pedestrians walk through Lafayette. I don’t think that’s something we should emulate.
Oh, come on. I don’t think a patio with a walkway included would be THAT hard to make on Main Street by Brownstone.
ALL OR NOTHING I GUESS ((((SHRUGZ)))))
Well, I think it’s all moot at this point, because if the restaurant’s finances were so fragile that this put them out…it wouldn’t have been long anyways.
Oh, come on. I don’t think a patio with a walkway included would be THAT hard to make on Main Street by Brownstone.
ALL OR NOTHING I GUESS ((((SHRUGZ)))))
Oh yeah Mr. Passive Aggressive…well it still looks stupid. I patiently await your rebuttal.
:twisted:
Oh yeah Mr. Passive Aggressive…well it still looks stupid. I patiently await your rebuttal.
:twisted:
Sorry, I’ve got nothing else. ((((SHRUGZ)))) was the best thing I’ve written today.
:oops:
Guess what, I actually know what’s going on there. As far as someone earlier in the discussion knowing someone who does part-time promotions, well, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Brownstone is still undergoing some restructuring. Some things just take a littlke longer when you want to make it right. Yes, the patio was an issue, but not like everyone thinks (there were problems on both sides of that one, btw). In this town, there are a ton of restaurants and it’s an unstable business as Walker states. Brownstone will be back.
Well I certainly hope they will be. We miss having them in the neighborhood.