Our first post on the exit of Cafe Kanape from the 700 Broadway Building was three months premature. Over the weekend, the small north Broadway cafe was emptied out and shuttered to make way for a new, undisclosed tenant. A person familiar with the situation says owner Sabine Ruthensteiner got an offer “she couldn’t refuse” for the space and is planning to reopen elsewhere — hopefully on Capitol Hill.
This summer, Ruthensteiner told CHS that the prospect of higher rent after the building’s sale was prompting her to leave Broadway. But in September, Kanape had reversed course and was staying put, we were told, after a deal with a camera shop fell through.
No word, yet, on whether that deal is behind the revival of the Kanape shutdown plans and there are no public records indicating any change of activity at the cafe’s location. It wouldn’t be a bad time to bring such a venture to the Hill, however with 60 Minute Photo telling customers it will close at the end of this month to make way for the start of construction of a new mixed-use apartment development on 14th Ave that will incorporate the facade of the Porchlight Coffee building. Don’t expect any 14th Ave demolition just yet — but the paperwork process has begun.
UPDATE: Here’s an announcement on the closure from Cafe Kanape:
Dear Followers:
We wanted to inform you that our little pan-European cafe on Capitol Hill in Seattle has closed.
We received an offer, for the space, that was (as a legendary movie would have you believe) “too good to turn down.”
We’ll leave the blog up for a couple days more and then it will be taken down.
Thank you so much for following us and liking our photos and quotes and poetry. We’ve had a good run and met a great many wonderful people.
This was a great location and a good thought that never made it. There were too many things wrong to count.
Many people with a bit of cash think it would be cool to own a restaurant. This place showed that you need more then cash and a kinda OK idea to run a restaurant.
I live a block away and walk be here all the time. THere was never anyone in there. The place was always empty. Now the space will be there for a business that the hill may like to support.
Walking by here was like watching a slow death.
I am glad it is finally over.
Kanape was one of my favorite spots on the Hill. I was so relieved when they didn’t close down a few months back. Please re-open on the Hill soon! (Near 15th would be great!)
After favorable reviews this past year her place has been busy and getting busier. She was an asset to this part of the hill and will be missed.
I don’t quite understand how this kind of thing works…wasn’t the owner just renting the space from a landlord? If so, what kind of “offer” did she receive? Did she have a lease that she needed to get out of and the landlord offered to allow that? Or, can a business owner sell the remainder of the lease to someone else? Inquiring minds want to know!
I dined there once about a month ago and was disappointed…the food was reasonably-priced but mediocre.