Why No One Makes It at the Plantation

   No place that I can think of in the Valley has seen so many failures as the Plantation at Sprague and Vista. We were there
as the Rock Inn for nearly four years which is a record by about three years. Since Rose Townsend died in 1986, I believe, the
place has been a revolving door to some thing like 17 establishments. Two businesses have come and gone in the 20 months since we moved out. Ripley's was open 6 months and Club Max made it eight.
   The public loves to blame Jack Rielly, the property manager, for this tragic situation. I don't know how many times people have told me that he always raises the rent when a business starts making money. But I always tell them that is not really true. Every owner signs up for a pre-negotiated rent that is established for several years. In our case we had 3 three-year
options with the price established. Jack could not and did not raise our rent, until I opted not to take the second term and decided to go month  to month. Only after a year did he decide to try for more money and force me to decide to leave.
    No one else ever came close to making it to the end of their
first option, and so Jack never got the chance to raise the rent which he probably could not have because they too would have had more lease options pre-negotiated going in. I would say the rent has always been too high there, but that is only one small factor to all the failures.
   The sad truth is that the biggest problem is the building itself. It is sad because it is a charming old structure with great history.
Built in 1939, it was originally a zoo, and later converted into a restaurant and then a country western night club. For years they held rodeos in back and it was a very popular place. With it's vaulted log cielings and storybook stone architecture, it was the class of the Valley. And I am sure that every one that has operated there, falls in love with it all just as we did.
   It seems, at first glance, to have it all. Atmosphere, full kitchen, beautiful bar, dance floor, pool room, banquet room and
restaurant area. But that turns out to be the biggest problem -
it has too much. To make the place work, you have to be a neighboorhood bar, night club, restaurant and banquet facillity.
And who can possibly be good at all those things?  We actually did get good at all of them after two years of learning the hard way but then we came to realize it took way too much effort.  
     Jack is convinced that the rent should be based on the square footage and he convinces the new owners as well. In reallity, the size is a detriment. There is simply too much to handle. Beyond the complexity of the business the place requires, the size hurts in other ways. It costs a tremendous amount of money to heat in the winter and
cool in the summer. Then too it takes a lot of work to keep clean.
    While the age of the building lends it charm, it also spells
high maintenace. Everything is old and because no one has made money there, almost nothing has been maintained properly.
I do give Jack credit for caring about the place and trying to get the owners to keep things maintained and spending some of the trust's money. But there are too many things that can and do go wrong. At one time we were spending, $1,000 a month in repair bills.
   Another problem, of couse, is the owners themselves.