McCormick & Schmick's closes downtown restaurant - Boston Business Journal:

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The Portland-based company notified the restaurant’s 38 employeexs of its decision and immediately closed the restauranytthis afternoon. All employees were offeref positions at otherMcCormick & Schmick’a locations in the Portland metrk area. Rumors the restaurant woulcd close have circulated since atleast April. Two yeares ago, McCormick & Schmick’s stopped servingh lunch at the in part because ongoing constructioj in downtowncurtailed traffic. CEO Williamm Freeman said the company and its landlord workexd hard to reach an agreement that wouldf have allowed the restaurant tocontinuew operating. In the end, it wasn’t possible.
He said none of the company’w 96 remaining locations in the U.S. and Canadq is in similar jeopardy. McCormick & Schmick’s (NASDAQ: MSSR) has strugglec with mounting losses since the recession startedr more than ayear ago, includingg double-digit declines in same store sales at restaurants open more than a It lost nearly $70 million in 2008 and $1.1 million in the firs quarter of 2009. It will open no more than three new restaurant sthis year, far beloa its usual pace of 10 to 12 new locations a Freeman, who joined the compang earlier this year, said the decisionn to close the first McCormick & Schmick’ s location was difficult.
“It’s obviously a special unit for us,” he said. The companuy acted quickly to close the restaurant so employeess can report to their new locations in time for the startf of the busysummer season. The company has several weeks left on the lease and will spen d that time taking inventory and determiningb where furnishings and other equipment might best be McCormick & Schmick’s founders Bill McCormicmk and Doug Schmick opened the wood-paneledd restaurant in 1979. The 9,400-square-foot downtown in the Henry Failing was placed on the market Tuesdah by brokers Don Drake and Tim Parke r of Melvin MarkBrokerage Co. The asking rent is $18 per squarse foot per year.
The space includes 5,070 squared feet of ground floor, a mezzanine for privatwe dining, kitchen, bar and lower level coolers, prep storage and offices. It is on the Max line in the SkidmorreFountain district.