FARRAGO FORCED TO LEAVE COSTLY MIDTOWN GROUND FLOOR 
After 13 years of serving mimosas in Midtown, Farrago World Cuisine is closing. Catty-corner from the under-construction Midtown Park and one of the first ground-floor participants in that two-block urban walkability experiment around the Post Properties buildings at Gray, Webster, and Bagby, Farrago announced the shuttering in a recent Facebook post that suggests how primo the ‘hood is becoming: “We endured the construction, paid parking and towed customers. Alas, the over double rent was more than we could bare.” [Facebook; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Farrago World Cuisine
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Well, at thirteen years, they certainly beat the average restaurant lifespan. I hope their next project is an even greater success.
bear (v) 1) carry, convey 2) display as a mark 3) support 4) endure
bare (v [trans]) to take of, uncover or expose to view
Sad to see them go…but I love that area right there. I wonder who will be moving in?
I think the city should help these folks out so they can stay. Freeze the rent or any other creative measure. These folks were in the ground floor of the most walkable, mixed use, livable, area in Houston, w/the possible exception of the Museum District. Help them out and keep them in business y’all!
I suppose they bared their rent by not being able to bear it.
Quantum’s comment is the most un-American thing I have ever read on this site. No, government should NOT EVER dictate to private ownership how to conduct its rental efforts. I like Farrago’s just fine, but life goes on. They should and probably will find a more workable new home, and the ownership probably will find a new backfill operator. Don’t be surprised if it’s not a more corporate name, as the bottom line is they can better handle hot market rents. Qdoba is my guess.
Sad to see them go. The most interesting part of this story is the fact that a mixed-use retail spot is commanding such high rents. I’ve always heard complaints that mixed-use will never work in this town and that developers have to add concessions just to attract tenants. Seems this story proves that argument wrong.
Knowing midtown… it will be replaced with a recovering AA men’s center. LOL
And that will happen when the appraised value of the property goes up by $800,000+ (Property tax paid goes up by roughly $30k).
http://hcad.org/records/details.asp?crypt=%94%9A%B0%94%BFg%85%8F%7F%7Cke%8El%88tXtYW%9E%99%A2%D3%89%95%C2e%7CU%8A%7F%86%C0%AB%A8%AD%86%5E&bld=1&tab=2
#6:
Yes. Good management (w/ so-so food) will trump great food (w/ so-so management) 9 times out of 10.
@6, corporate operators do not necessarily handle the rents better. They are more willing to take on the rents in exchange for having their brand in a high profile area. A lot of big name retailers operating in high profile places like the Magnificent Mile and Boylston Ave barely break even, but are happy to just have their brand out there. For this location, I doubt a franchise or corporate chain offering lighter fare will be the successor as they tend to be adverse to operating outside of the typical strip mall setting in Houston. My guess is that someone looking to do a high end restaurant wants the space.
This place ceased to be a restaurant of any quality years ago. They have attempted to survive selling bottomless mimosas to $20000 millionaire douchebags on Sunday for several years.
Case in point against all the developers who don’t think ground floor retail can work.
What Gary said – went once for said “Sunday brunch” and vowed to never return. The place was selling a spread of bacon, eggs and biscuits, essentially buffet style for 25 bucks a head, not including drinks. No loss here.
No great loss, the food menu there was average at best. Can’t survive on weekend brunches alone, every night of the week the place was dead and they didn’t pull much of a weekday lunch crowd either.
Looking forward to a better option as I had written that place off long ago.
“And that will happen when the appraised value of the property goes up by $800,000+ (Property tax paid goes up by roughly $30k).”
.
Chicken or egg? Maybe the appraised value went up because this property and nearby ones are now able to command higher rents. Nobody owes the owners of Farrago a living.
The new ownership of this place was clueless about food and management. It was not the rising rent. It was that combined with dwindling clientele due to aforementioned suckiness.