Monday, October 15, 2018

[UPDATE] The Mercury and The Pinewood Have Gone Off The Deep End

The Mercury in Ponce City Market and The Pinewood, a downtown Decatur favorite – have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  The Mercury in Ponce City Market is a "cocktail focused, classic American eatery" that began serving customers in early 2016 at the popular mixed-use project. The Mid-Century themed restaurant featured plenty of 60s decor and charm and was no doubt an expensive endeavor to launch.  The Pinewood opened on West Ponce de Leon Avenue in downtown Decatur in 2012.  The restaurant replaced popular neighborhood spot Cakes & Ale which expanded and relocated to the Decatur Square. (It closed in its new space earlier this year.)  
Both The Mercury and The Pinewood are concepts of the 10 Apart Hospitality Group.  The Group also includes Deep End, on North Avenue in the old 4th & Swift, The Helpful Hot Dog, along the BeltLine Eastside Trail at Ponce City Market, and Proof Cocktail Syrups, a line of cocktail syrups. 

The group also opened Bar Americano and Bar Crema at Andrews Square in Buckhead this past November.  By the end of April though, both concepts has closed, with sources telling ToNeTo Atlanta at the time that the group was in bad financial shape and was using the proceeds from its other restaurants to keep its Buckhead restaurants afloat.   

Edens, the real estate firm that owns Andrews Square, filed a "Proceeding Against Tenant Holding Over" in the Fulton County State Court this past June against Spagett LLC d/b/a/ Bar Americano in regard to their abrupt closure.  

Two corporate entities related to the The Mercury and The Pinewood filed this past Friday, October 12 for reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta. The Mercury listed liabilities of more than $1 million and The Pinewood listed liabilities of more than $500,000. 

Both restaurants owe tens of thousands to Atlanta businesses such as Rohrig Investments, LP., Ameripride, Buckhead Beef and Sard & Leff, LLC, among others.    The Mercury owes more than $100,000 to the Georgia Department of Revenue  and nearly $126,000 to its landlord, Jamestown PCM Master Tenant LP.  The Pinewood owes at least  $38,000 to the Georgia Department of Revenue and over $51,000 to its landlord, Rohrig Investments LP.  A majority of the debt is from a number of out-of-state, online lenders, with typically high interest rates.  

Friday's bankruptcy filing come on the heels of the July Chapter 11 filings of multiple entities related to the Sage Woodfire Tavern group of restaurants.  Since the filing, the Alpharetta location on Haynes Bridge Road has closed "temporarily" while the Sage restaurants in the Cumberland area, Dunwoody and Buckhead remain open... for now.  

Although the circumstances are surely different between the two groups, one common denominator is rapid growth and expensive build-outs.  

Are you surprised by the recent rash of bankruptcy filings in Atlanta?  Do you think 10 Apart did too much, too soon?  What is your favorite 10 Apart restaurant?

Please share your thoughts below.  

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are simply TOO MANY restaurants in Atlanta metro. No matter how impressive the decor, how unique the food, how cute the logo, and how polished the staff - there are not enough customers to support all these restaurants.

Anonymous said...

Not too many restaurants, too many over priced restaurants. This place didn't fail because it was bad food. They were competing against 20 restaurants a level below, that were 2/3rds, to half the cost, and arguably better. A lunch burger was $16, plus 20% tip, and dinner was $20 to $35 per plate. At PCM, that's a hard no from me, and many other people.. obvs.

Anonymous said...

I hate hearing of all these restaurant closings. WHY do they all insist on opening in the same locations? They just increase their odds of not doing enough business with so much competition surrounding them.

People in the Northlake area have few choices. But 10 miles away in every direction are one of our preferred restaurants. It's ridiculous. Whoever puts one of those here will strike gold.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:03 AM Northlake goldmine. Thanks for the chuckle!

Anonymous said...

This is a bummer, I hope the restaurant can make it. It's a restaurant we have enjoyed several times and often recommend to friends and other visitors.

Anonymous said...

@ 8:54 AM You know nothing about Northlake.

Anonymous said...

Re: Goldmine

That's a double score since that was the name of the arcade there in the 70s and 80s. Used to always stop in to play a game or two.

Anonymous said...

If a restauranteur (or retailer) believed they could “strike gold” in the Northlake area they would have done so by now.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...