PORT TOWNSEND — The Upstage Restaurant and Bistro, a popular downtown nightspot that closed for repairs in June, most likely will not reopen in its current location, according [to both parties involved.]
“I suppose it’s still possible,” Mark Cole said Friday of the place that has operated for 15 years.
“But I’m not optimistic.”
Building Owner Dave Peterson also said he doubted the business would reopen where it is now.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’m not hopeful that it will reopen [as the Upstage],” Peterson said.
This weekend the club is holding a “patio sale” to raise money to support future ventures — wherever they may take place.
The sale of restaurant supplies, sound equipment and donated items continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. outside the club at 923 Washington St.
“Right now, we have to be out of here by the end of the month, so we need to sell a lot of things that we don’t have space for, as we don’t think we’ll be able to stay here,” Cole said.
Peterson served Cole with an eviction notice on June 28, saying that the lease had reverted to month-to-month tenancy five years ago because Cole failed to complete the proper paperwork and stated that Cole’s negligence was the cause of the unanticipated repairs.
Cole denies this responsibility and said that he was under the impression that the lease had expired this year.
He had signed an informal agreement with Peterson that granted an eight-month lease term followed by an 18-month period, but that was void because the agreement was not notarized, according to a letter from Peterson’s attorney, Malcolm Harris, to Peggy Ann Bierbaum, who is representing Cole.
Peterson, who is also the Port Townsend city engineer, managed the Undertown until December. He planned to reopen the area as a renovated space at the end of March.
This proved to be prohibitively expensive, so Peterson announced plans to open a new restaurant in the space above the Upstage, evicting two retail tenants for that purpose.
Peterson asked Cole to close for about two weeks for repairs to the floor and the kitchen, but this changed when water damage and dry rot was discovered.
The responsibility for the damage is disputed, according to both parties, and stands in the way of opening any restaurant in that space.
“We are in the process of making extensive repairs to the interior of the Upstage premises to repair dry rot and structural damage caused by the tenant’s failure to prevent water from the kitchen and refrigeration unit from invading the framing beneath the floors,” Peterson said.
“The building cannot be safely reopened to the public until these serious health and safety issues have been resolved.”
Cole said that Peterson abandoned plans to open the upstairs restaurant because it would require increasing the weight capacity of its floor, which is also the Upstage’s ceiling.
Peterson said that he abandoned the idea of opening a restaurant in the upstairs space several weeks ago “for a number of complicated reasons” and that he will rent the space out as retail in the future.
While Cole is scouting a new location for the Upstage he is using the American Legion Hall at 209 Monroe St., as a temporary home.
He has already put on two shows with another three planned for the weekend.
The Legion also will host programs for the Jazz Festival and Acoustic Blues Festival that would have been presented at the Upstage.
There is a significant contrast between the two locations.
The Upstage is a small, cozy club with good acoustics and a stage set in the center of the audience that offers several sight lines, a venue that is perfectly suited for the music presented and the regular audience, Port Townsend residents who are predominantly seniors.
The Legion Hall is a gymnasium-like space with a lot of echo, similar to the venues attended by the current audience when they were in their teens and 20s.
Cole said the Legion Hall’s acoustics are “challenging.” He has put the band on risers on the dance floor instead of the stage, where the echo is worse.
“We turned it around and it’s a lot better,” he said. “Instead of the sound bouncing off of the concrete walls, it goes toward the curtain and is absorbed.”
Scheduled are the John Nemeth Blues Band on July 18, Pearl Django on July 19 and David Jacobs-Strain on July 20.
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. with ticket prices ranging from $12 to $15.
After Peterson told Cole that the upstairs restaurant would not happen, the two discussed a partnership that had three possibilities, according to Cole.
“One idea was that Dave would be a silent partner. Another that we would manage it together,” Cole said.
“I wasn’t sure that was a good option, so a third choice was to have him buy the place from me and I would stay around long enough to show him how to operate the place.”
All those plans were set awry after Peterson’s eviction notice.
Peterson said on Saturday that he is no longer interested in a partnership with Cole.
Cole said that Peterson “has sent me some recent emails saying we should get together and talk.
“But we are not at the point where we can talk to each other. We have to talk through our lawyers.”
Peterson said he does not know when the building will be ready for a new tenant.]
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.