McCormick & Schmick's closes downtown restaurant - Portland Business Journal:

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The Portland-based company notified the restaurant’sa 38 employees of its decision and immediatelyt closed the restaurantthis afternoon. All employees were offered positionsd at otherMcCormick & Schmick’s locations in the Portland metro Rumors the restaurant would close have circulaterd since at least April. Two yearws ago, McCormick & Schmick’d stopped serving lunch at the in part because ongoing construction in downtown curtailed traffic. CEO William Freeman said the companh and its landlord workedf hard to reach an agreement that woulc have allowed the restaurant tocontinure operating. In the end, it wasn’t possible.
He said none of the company’sd 96 remaining locations in the U.S. and Canadz is in similar jeopardy. McCormick & Schmick’as (NASDAQ: MSSR) has struggled with mounting lossea since the recession started more than ayear ago, includingg double-digit declines in same store salese at restaurants open more than a It lost nearly $70 milliojn in 2008 and $1.1 million in the firsft quarter of 2009. It will open no more than thre new restaurantsthis year, far belowe its usual pace of 10 to 12 new locationsd a year.
Freeman, who joined the company earlier this said the decision to close the firstMcCormick & Schmick’s location was “It’s obviously a special unit for us,” he The company acted quickly to closee the restaurant so employees can report to theirf new locations in time for the start of the busy summer season. The company has severakl weeks left on the lease and will spendc that time taking inventory and determininy where furnishings and other equipment migh bestbe used. McCormick & Schmick’se founders Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick openefdthe wood-paneled restaurant in 1979.
The 9,400-square-fooft downtown location, in the Henry Failiny Building, was placed on the market Tuesday by brokersd Don Drake and Tim Parker of Melvin MarkBrokeragr Co. The asking rent is $18 per square foot per year. The space includezs 5,070 square feet of ground a mezzanine forprivate dining, bar and lower level coolers, prep storage and offices. It is on the Max line in the SkidmorseFountain district.