(Image: HoneyHole)

HoneyHole will reopen soon under new ownership and a much more stable future befitting the popular sandwich joint’s decades serving the neighborhood.

CHS reported here in December on efforts to revive HoneyHole by restaurateur Travis Rosenthal who has grown a family of popular Capitol Hill and Seattle food and drink venues including E Pike rum bar Rumba and its post-Tiki sibling Inside Passage.

The deal is now done and Rosenthal’s Pike Street Restaurant Group is taking over the 700-block E Pike bar and sandwich counter.

CHS reported here on the growing mess around HoneyHole last year as its ownership went AWOL and left employees in the lurch. According to a notice about unpaid rent posted by legal representation for building owners Timberlane Partners, husband and wife business partners Kristin and Pat Rye remained the guarantors on the HoneyHole lease even after handing over the reins to first-time owner Evan Bramer. Bramer had told CHS he was using money from an inheritance to step in to take over the flailing business after a disastrous two years as the Ryes wrestled with management issues and struggles around diversity.

Bramer and the Ryes never responded to inquiries about the closure and financial implosion and employees said they have been left uninformed and unpaid after the bar suddenly locked up. A restaurant planned by Bramer in the location of a failed expansion by the Ryes to the Central District also fizzled.

Until they sold the business to the Ryes, HoneyHole had remained open in the same E Pike location since it was founded in 1999 by brothers Sean and Devon London.

Now the sandwich bar is being readied for a reopening in coming weeks. “We are excited to announce the reopening of HoneyHole!,” the new owners posted Thursday. “El Guapo, The Gooch, The Waverider—yup! Many of your favorites are coming back! We are working hard to open up by the end of the month.”

HoneyHole is will reopen “soon” at 703 E Pike. You can learn more and watch for updates at honeyholeseattle.com.