by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Less than three months after signing a lease in the the W.A. Knight Building, Nassau County-based Moon River Pizza has pulled out of the deal, citing renovation cost overruns.
According to building management, the project stalled late Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s our understanding Moon River grossly underestimated their costs,” said Mike Langton, owner of the building. “They were thinking around $150,000 to build-out the space and it ultimately was going to cost them closer to $210,000.”
Langton explained the relatively high figure.
“The thing is, the space has never been occupied before so there is a lot that needs to be done that wouldn’t have to be done at an existing location,” he said.
Langton said he agreed to let Moon River partners Dan and Andy Bottorff out of the contract for two reasons.
“One, they are good people and it’s not like you want to make this any more difficult for them that it needs to be,” said Langton. “The other reason is that we were able to find someone to take the space almost immediately.”
Langton said as the Moon River deal slowly began falling apart this week, Robert Humphries, owner of Ieyasu, the Knight Building’s other commercial tenant, came calling.
“He had heard Moon River might not be working out because he is using the same contractor,” said Langton. “He said he was looking to expand Ieyasu and we were only too happy to make that happen for him.”
Humphries is expected to sign a contract on the Moon River space by next week, nearly doubling the size of Ieyasu, a Japanese restaurant.
Langton said phase one will likely open by the end of May and that work on phase two should begin shortly after.
“He’s very excited about this,” said Langton. “This will allow him to seat 110 people and to obtain a liquor license much more easily.
“We’re very lucky this was resolved so easily.”
Moon River’s owners could not be reached for comment.