So you know that the Rusty Pelican closed a few weeks back, and that at the same time, we noted that building that housed it, along with Murphy’s Irish Pub, the rug shop on the other side (and, it turns out, the north half of the block including Cutz Salon and the house next door) were for sale, with development plans listed (see RIP Rusty Pelican).
Well, put your fears to rest: we caught up with Costas Antonopoulos, the property owner to get story and it does not sound like he’s anywhere close to selling at the moment.
Yes, the property is listed (now marked “off-market”), but…
“A realtor comes to me, he tells me he can find a buyer for the property, but I don’t want to sell,” he explained. “But you know these guys…’I’ve got a guy in New York, I’ll talk to him, this, that’. So I told him look, if you find someone to build it for me and give me back the first floor for commercial space, he can keep the other six floors (and get the variance to build them), then we’ll talk. Oh, and also I need the first level of underground parking for my customers.” I am also looking for office and retail spaces for lease, and this B8 Real Estate helps me find the prime location.
So it’s listed, but at $13.5M with those terms, there aren’t buyers lining up. So, beer drinkers, open mic singers and trivia night players, lean back and rest easy.
But what about the Rusty Pelican? A number of readers have noted that the sign out front now says “Opening Soon Under New Management”.
Costas himself will be opening a restaurant in the spot.
Wallingford has seen a number of restaurants come and go, but Costas is no neophyte to the restaurant business: he opened Costa’s on the Ave before selling it to his brother (who still operates it) back in 1976, his younger brother runs Byzantion on Capitol Hill and Costas himself owned and operated Costas Opa next to the Fremont Bridge up until he sold it two years ago.
Despite his own Greek background and obvious experience with Greek food, he insists it won’t be a Greek restaurant.
“This neighborhood, a Greek restaurant,” his voice trailed away into a skeptical, thickly accented murmur. “No, it will be neighborhood food: breakfast, lunch, dinner, yes, gyros, tzatziki, souvlaki, but also lasagna, spaghetti, neighborhood food that fills your belly without breaking your wallet.”
Costas is hoping to open by the end of the month, but he has some work ahead of him: contrary to what I wrote in my earlier post, the departure of The Rusty Pelican was not on happy terms. While Costas declined to comment, it was apparent from looking around (and confirmed independently) that the place had been stripped in a hurry on the way out: half a counter was removed, sawed haphazardly, appliances ripped from walls, and fixtures missing.
“Seven months ago, I was in Greece, and my sons called me, said the rent wasn’t being paid, so I came back,” he explained.
That explains the eviction notice that was posted on the door until recently.
We’ll let you know when the restaurant is ready to open, but again: no need to fear for Murphy’s.
“I don’t want to sell,” he said. “Murphy’s, the rug place, the hair lady, we have a good relationship.”
Sounds good to me.
Do you remember Nicolas (or was it Nikolas?). That place was great! Sounds similar — sort of Greek, but some Italian and other stuff. But much, much better food than the crusty barnacle, oh, I mean rusty pelican!
We would love a Greek restaurant!
This was a bad year for Greek restaurants in the vicinity – Golden Olive here, Continental in the U district, Costas Opa in Fremont. I guess there might be more to making a restaurant work than picking the right category, though. Who would guess that an Afghan restaurant would survive here?
So Costas wants a seven-story building with underground parking on that corner?
I took that as Greek humor.
No, he does indeed want six stories in all. He seemed serious about thinking that one could get a variance to build extra floors above the 4 allowed by code.
We would LOVE to see an authentic Greek restaurant open in the hood. Bring on the taramosalata, moussaka, octopus, pastitsio, PLEASE, Costas. Do it!!
I’m pretty sure that Costas owned Nikolas. It was sort of Greek/Italian and was indeed very popular. I would love to see another Greek restaurant in the neighborhood.
I would love a Greek restaurant!
If everyone wants a Greek restaurant so bad then why did no one ever go to Golden Olive? it was very good…
Darn – we’re stuck with the perpetually-going-out-of-business rug store : (
Costas in fremont was divine. I mourned their closure. I will help in any way possible to have them back in any way. Thank you.
Now if we could get similar news about the Moon Temple.
Please please tear out those gross upholstered chairs, remove the fake plants, and freshen up the space just a little. The last time I ate at RP (a long time ago admittedly) I felt surrounded by grime and sinking into those broken springed booth seats did nothing to help that.
I’m still mourning Costas in Fremont. Loved the Greek food, but also loved their omelets, sandwiches, etc. when I was in a different mood. Would absolutely love such a place in the Wallyhood.
We want Greek! Would be fantastic! Add good beer and cocktails with ability for kids to come like a Tangletown or High Life in Ballard. We need more options like that!
I, too, am surprised by the wishes for a Greek place because golden olive was delicious … and almost always dead empty. And it was in a good spot, too, or at least not a worse spot than the rp. Maybe it was the aesthetics?
Hooray!
I’m in favor of a place that serves breakfast/brunch, at least on the weekend. That’s the only time I favored RP (their other food wasn’t that great). Yes, we have Julia’s, but always a long wait on the weekends. We need more places to get breakfast in Wallingford!
@Jen: I forgot to mention in the article, Costas ran Nikolas, too. So he’s back.
The Golde Olive was tasty, but was more of a takeout place for us. It just didn’t have the sit-down restaurant vibe that the former Rusty Pelican could have in its next incarnation.
Another vote for a Greek taverna. We used to love eating at Costas Opas in Fremont. To add insult to injury it’s a bank now. Ugh!
I loved Nikolas. I went 2-3 times a week after working out to correct school papers. Great food. Excellent service.
We went to the Golden Olive many times. We loved the getting a bottle of Retsina to go with our meal. I thought the place was well run and I don’t know why it was always so sparsely populated.
We have many breakfast places. Patty’s Egg Nest is nice, though the Christian radio station puts me off a bit. The our last visit they seemed to be slipping a tad in service and training. The main drawback for Patty’s is that it is only open until 4pm.
That said I am all for additional apartments in Wallingford as well as additional fund and interesting restaurants. I really want a traditional French place, though perhaps I don’t as that might be too tempting.
Anyone who likes a lot of choice within walking distance should support additional apartments in the neighborhood, especially along Stone and 45th. More people living in the area means more people who can go out on any given night and keep restaurants in business.
I liked Golden Olive. I’m the only one who likes retsina, though, so just a glass for me. Thanks for the tip about that Egg Nest place, will prevent an awkward situation.
While I mostly see the Golden Olive’s demise as a strong indication that it isn’t a good place for Greek restaurant, that might not apply if someone had a really distinctive and ambitious take on Greek cuisine – sort of like for example Issian is somewhat distinctive in the Japanese category – and one that happened to work well for vegetarians and similar.
Our family loved the Golden Olive and misses it dearly. My understanding is that it closed due for the health of the owner, rather than lack of support. I recall Nicolas, as well, and understood it was run by way back when. A Greek place would likely find a nice niche here, although Greek/Italian would also probably be quite popular, too.
So glad rusty pelican closed. That place was abysmal. Total waste of space.
I’m very glad Costa is re opening in that space. Hopefully it’ll be cheaper than Opa down in Fremont, but regardless, it’ll be an improvement over the RP.
Not that I don’t love Asian food, but it will be good to have a little variety in the neighborhood.
I vote Greek or Mediterranean (fresh, favorable & healthy!!). I miss Costas Opa!
Just drove by 45th and the new sign says Nikolas!
Thanks Shawn! I’m so excited!
I’m hoping they hire the chef from Golden Olive.
And they have a walk up gyro, schwarma and/or falafel window. mmmmmmm.
I actually really enjoyed Rusty Pelican’s food (and their coffee & cream!) and ate there regularly. I would agree though that although the waitstaff were very attentive, the front desk ladies were stand-offish and unapproachable.
I am excited to see what is going to be entering in the new space! Judging by the landlord’s past/current restaurant endeavors, I’m sure it’ll be delicious 🙂
Excited to see that the restaurant will be NIkolas!
I think that is the VERY OLD Nikolas sign. But maybe not. I liked Nikolas, too.
I am so glad. It is worth the high rent for this to come back. .
Believe me there are two sides to this story. First off rusty pelican purchased this restaurant and EVERYTHING in it for almost 200000.00 so there for they owned it and that’s why it was removed. It did not belong to costa. No they didn’t hurry up and go in there to strip it. Costa rented this building to them with no heat which is illegal by the way and lied about it. There was an extensive lease agreement that both were to follow and costa DID NOT! Let’s talk about the roof he refused to fix for the past 11 yrs, the ceiling coming down as customers are in there, constant water leaks throughout the restaurant and best of all the floor that he again refused to fix properly but best of all the building being surrounded in black mold which is also illegal. There are pictures to prove all of this. So… That’s why the rent stopped getting paid which u can in fact do if the landlord isn’t fixing what he is required to do by law. So for whoever wrote this blog and continues to do so here are the FACTS. Maybe u guys should talk to some of his other tenants who have the same problems with his buildings.
Oh and not to mention him charging almost 10000.00 a month in rent for a place like that. Yes I would’ve stopped paying rent if that were me a LONG TIME AGO
Well, personally not interested in the details of dysfunction between these two parties, but for me it sure goes to show, the character of the Wallingford business district has a lot to do with its landlords.
On the good side, the kind of `mom and pop’ landlord that you find here are reportedly a lot easier to talk to when you don’t fit some obvious mold. With the newer mixed use retail streetfront development, with the more `professional’ management, … I heard from someone who’s been there, that he had to set up shop under a local `chain’ store name even though he had no intention to have anything to do with that chain, just because that’s the only way he could talk to management.
But of course the ideal is `neither tenant nor landlord be’, apparently where this story is going if the owner intends to set up his own restaurant.
Both sides weren’t being truthfully told and that’s why I shared the DETAILS on rusty pelicans behalf. @donn u don’t need to be interested in this its a PUBLIC blog
To be more precise, it isn’t just that I’m not interested, I’m a little appalled as usual when someone thinks it makes sense to take a squabble like this to a `public blog.’ In the story posted above, Nikolas to his credit declines to get into it, and I expect he will continue to stay out. Since I think I’d be a fool to take either side’s word for it, that silence is a completely satisfactory alternative to a bunch of back and forth trashing.
I think it’s a rule of the internet that if SOMEONE SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS TO GET A POINT ACROSS they’re probably not the most rational person. 😉
… or Costas, whatever his name is!
As an alternative to upper-casing a word for emphasis, does anyone happen to know the protocol here for italic, bold, underline or some kind of font switching here? I could probably do better to just think about just writing in a more readable way, but some situations seem to call for a little emphasis.
Ha, never mind, apparently it’s angle brackets.
Off the topic, but isn’t anyone else a little concerned about more 4-6 story commercial/residential buildings going up on 45th Street? Stone Way is a different issue, as it has always been a bigger, less “neighborhoody” thoroughfare than 45th; the large apartment buildings work well in that area. But 45th has always had such a small-town, “Main Street USA” feel. That is one of the reasons we moved to this neighborhood. I would hate to see the 45th Street vibe get squashed even more than it already is (with CVS Pharmacy coming into the hood very soon).
I’d go along with that – minus the part where what’s toxic to N 45th is fine over on Stone Way. Stone is not like 45th because it’s commercial/light industry. As it becomes more residential, it needs to get “neighborhoody” just the same.
Costas Antonopoulos’ desire to have a six-story building on that corner does not endear him to me.
45th did have a small town vibe.. that’s been gone a long time.
I live a block off Stone.. all you guys were happy to have those mega-buildings there and now you squawk when it comes to you!
Big snort laugh!
WELL, molomollo, I think most, of not all, folks who live in this general area, were not happy to have any mega-buildings on 45th OR on Stone Way. Why would we?
We’re all in this together.
Regarding Stone Way, it sure was beautiful to drive north from the water, see all the gorgeous trees, with their wonderful autumn red colors.
With increased density comes more residents who enliven the streets and support local shops and neighborhood activities. I’m all for it when it is done thoughtfully and, especially, with community input.
Very sorry to see the Rusty Pelican leave I now go up to the Edmonds one. They serve breakfast until 3 pm. It’s a notch above. Food is always excellent and good verity. Still feels like an intimate small neighborhood and friendly staff and capable.
I don’t like the big buildings myself…. I don’t think the economy will improve either,,,