Koi Way eviction notice. Photo by Carol Toler.
The Koi Way, a Chinese, Thai and Indonesian restaurant, has closed in Lakeridge Village. A notice was taped to their window Thursday by Edens Company, their landlord which owns, operates and develops national retail real estate.
“Tenant’s rentals are past due and numerous events of default exist under the Lease. Accordingly, we have changed the lock(s) to your door(s) pursuant to the provisions of your Lease,” wrote Edens reps. “Do not attempt to enter the Premises without the approval of Lakeridge Village (Edens), L.L.C.”
Travis and Melinda Prausa own The Koi Way and will continue to operate their successful original location in Allen. They also have a food truck, which travels around the metroplex serving customers at festivals and special events.
After they expanded to Lakeridge Village in March, the owners often shared with customers that they deemed service by the landlord to be unsatisfactory. Leaky pipes and air conditioning glitches were common, they said. Unappetizing smells from sewer back flow turned customers away. (A problem which I can testify, having eaten at SoCo yesterday, does not affect surrounding tenants.)
Trisha and Matt Stroud, who recently opened (the mouth-wateringly delicious) Strouderosa BBQ at Skillman and Audelia near Tom Thumb, also feel the pain of family-owned restaurants struggling to make it.
“This makes me SO sad,” wrote Trisha on social media. [The Koi Way] just opened a few months ago! I feel this hard though. And it really scares me. The struggles with staff. Inflation. I will say that space is very expensive, in my opinion, over $10K/month. It’s so hard to make money when your overhead is so high! Or at all, really.”
Lake Highlands Creamery and Atomic Pie formerly operated in The Koi Way vicinity, and when they closed, owners cited excessively high rent as a primary contributor to their doom. Edens hasn’t announced whether they have a new tenant in mind.
The Koi Way. Photo by Simon Pruitt.
