El Dorado Hills’ THE PURPLE PLACE Announces “Last Day Open”
ABC 10
(EL DORADO HILLS, CALIFORNIA) Aug 19, 2022 — The Purple Place Bar and Grill will officially close its doors on Sunday.
Denise and Mike Hountalas, the owners of the Purple Place Bar and Grill, purchased and renovated the restaurant in 2006. It quickly became a beloved restaurant for many El Dorado County residents and those passing through the area.
“We grew the struggling business into a successful community gathering place while we employed multiple generations of families and local high schoolers,” the Hountalases previously told ABC10.
However, according to them, they’ve been in lease negations with their landlord since Dec. 2021, with their lease set to expire in Sept. 2022.
The Hountalases sent the following statement to ABC10:
The Hountalases have been in lease negotiations with Ms. Anders since December 2021. They offered more than double the current rent, which is comparable to the newer rent prices in El Dorado Hills, and a commitment to make a large capital investment towards property improvement. Negotiations ended earlier this month with Ms. Anders demanding a rent increase of over 240%, and a large unspecified Common Area Maintenance (CAM) fee in addition to a demand for upwards of $200,000 in structural improvements.
They remained hopeful they would be able to stay in their original location, but due to increasing costs it would not be economically feasible for them to continue operating.
According to the Hountalases they “offered to buy the property or even sell the business to Ms. Anders so that The Purple Place could stay at its original location. Unfortunately, none of these options worked out.”
The Hountalases said the Purple Place will close on Sunday, Aug. 21. They hope to announce the reopening of the Purple Place at a new location in the near future.
ABC10 repeatedly reached out to the landlord of the Purple Place by email, Facebook message, and phone throughout our reporting, but did not hear back from her prior to publishing.
Residents are saddened to hear of the restaurant’s closure as it has become an iconic space for them to celebrate birthdays, the end of the year, and everything in between.
“This is a hub for the community. Not just for El Dorado Hills but also for Folsom and the Sacramento Valley,” said Greg Jones who says he’s been coming to the Purple Place about two to three times a week for the past 15 years. “I’m going to remember all the smiles, good food and camaraderie.”
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Prior Story July 15th “El Dorado Hills’ ‘The Purple Place’ Fights To Remain Open At Its Original Location”
Greed, greed, greed.
“Ms. Anders” probably some rich old lady with no knowledge of the current economic environment. Good luck filling that space. It is designed for a restaurant. Who is motivated these days to do a restaurant “start up” and lease at your ridiculous rates? That space will sit vacant for years and become an eyesore for the community. Why not work with an established business who’s rent has been making you wealthy for many years Ms. Anders? And they are willing to invest their own money to improve your asset? WTF?
Dan Ms. Anders asked for current market rate for the space involved and she lost out on well over $400,000 in rent increases for the period of the previous lease. Someone took advantage of Ms. Anders mothers passing and lied about a few things. Ms Anders had to take care of her mothers boy friend who was dying of cancer so she failed to sue for breach of contract and lost over $400,000 in rental income over the years and tried to work it out. The Purple Place name came from Ms Anders father mixing two colors of paint he did not have enough of either color to paint the building and the result was purple. The building was the Purple Place and subsequently the Bar was called the Purple Place because of the Building. If you research Cliff House in San Fransisco you will see what happened here as far as the name. I will say like Father like son. By the way trade marking the name 4 years after Ms Anders mother died was a real class act.