Owner Paul Buchness stands in the empty Lighthouse Landing Restaurant at the Sussex County Airport in Georgetown.
CHUCK SNYDER/Special to The News Journal
(Photo: WBOC)WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 -
GEORGETOWN — The restaurant at the Sussex County Airport is coming in for a crash landing.
Although a lease agreement to operate the Lighthouse Landing eatery ran through the end of May, Sussex County agreed this week to let operator Paul Buchness depart at the end of March, waiving the last three months of rent.
Buchness told the county he would have to close the restaurant at 21533 Rudder Lane in December without some subsidy to tide it over through the first quarter of 2013.
“We’re not generating enough income, enough sales,” he said in an interview Thursday. “Unless there’s some help from the county, help paying some of the utilities or paying some of the rent, it is going to be a tough go for anybody out there.”
To keep the restaurant open through March, the county is allowing Buchness to pay a $1 monthly rent, instead of the current $1,200, starting in January.
Hal Godwin, deputy county administrator, negotiated the reduced rent, which the County Council approved Tuesday, to prevent the restaurant from closing abruptly. In the meantime, Godwin said, he will solicit interest from other restaurant owners and managers.
“I think we can have someone we value as a good restaurant operator who can take that operation on,” Godwin said, “but it’s not a slam dunk.”
Buchness is no stranger to food service; his company runs the kitchens at the CHEER Center and at Delaware Technical Community College, both in Georgetown. He signed up to run the airport restaurant five years ago, the fourth in a series of managers who tried to make the numbers work. The airport is on Georgetown’s outskirts, not especially close to other businesses.
“When there is activity around the airport, it is sustainable,” Buchness said.
Crews contracted to work on planes in the airport’s maintenance hangars frequented the eatery, but when those contracts shriveled, Buchness said his business shrank with it.
Councilman George Cole said he wasn’t convinced the airport could sustain a restaurant at all, no matter who was in charge. He noted the Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport, which is larger than the county’s facility and has commuter flights, has only vending machines for hungry travelers.
“I don’t think there’s much you can do to turn it around,” Cole said. “We need to be prepared, if we extend this, after three months to look up and not have anybody.
“I’m not willing to sit here and subsidize an operation like a restaurant,” he added.
Buchness is the fourth person in the last 10 years to run the airport’s restaurant, which was originally called Jimmy’s Fly-In Grille and was operated by the proprietor of Bridgeville’s Jimmy’s Grille.
“I love the facility, how you could see the planes come and go. I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving there,” Buchness said. “But, financially, it was putting a strain on my whole operation.”
The restaurant stopped serving dinner in February, and now serves only breakfast and lunch.
Story and reaction/comments: http://www.delawareonline.com
GEORGETOWN, Del.- For years Lighthouse Landing has been the restaurant at the Sussex County Airport. However, after the restaurant's owner announced his intentions to close the business, the county struck a deal to keep the restaurant open until March.
"Just looking at the dollars and cents of it, we haven't done very well with a profit margin," said owner Paul Buchness. "There's just not enough volume to really justify another five-year lease here."
Rather than have Buchness leave at month's end, county leaders have struck a deal with him.
The county will only charge him $1 for rent from January to March. The hope is to give the county time to land a new tenant.
"The county supports having a privately operated family-style restaurant at our airport terminal," said Hal Godwin, Sussex County's deputy administrator.
However, not everyone thinks the county is doing the right thing.
"No that's it, it's our money it shouldn't be for something private like that," said Robin Chirino, of Georgetown.
Buchness hopes the deal becomes a win-win for everyone.
"I don't know that we'll be in the positive of the three months that we are here, but we certainly want to be a team player since we've been here and we want to continue to do that as well."
Lighthouse Landing's lease ends in March. The county hopes the space will not be vacant for long. Officials said they have already had other restaurants showing interest in opening at the airport.
Story and reaction/comments: http://www.wboc.com
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KGED
http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/about/airport/
No comments:
Post a Comment