The inventive downtown street taco restaurant Gio Taco was locked out of its 2,500-square-foot space on Sunday after falling two months behind in its rent.
The restaurant, open just 15 months, had aspired to become part of the fabric of a revitalized downtown. But the concept didn’t take off as owner Brian Metzger and his Metzger Family Restaurants had hoped.
“We had high hopes and high aspirations of Gio, and for whatever reason it did not work,” said Metzger, whose company also operates the year-old Poppy Kitchen at La Paloma Resort and Jackson Tavern in Plaza Palomino, which he opened late last year.
Metzger’s landlord, Jim Campbell, changed the locks and posted a notice Sunday that he was taking back the premises for failure to meet the lease agreement. On Monday, Campbell would not elaborate on how Metzger Family Restaurants did not meet its lease obligations.
But Campbell did say that he has eight local restaurant operators in the wings eager to take over the spot at 350 E. Congress St. He said he hopes to have someone in place and operating by summer.
Metzger on Monday said he fell two months behind in rent and was in discussions with Campbell to keep the restaurant open until the end of March, but the two could not reach an agreement.
Gio, which specialized in gourmet street tacos, opened in late 2013 next door to the wildly popular World of Beer. Both are connected to The Cadence student housing complex at 350 E. Congress St.
Campbell said the restaurant that replaces Gio will need to have three things going for it: a “viable lunch offering, an activated dinner crowd” and the willingness to embrace and grow upon the energy of its neighbors, World of Beer and Hi Fi Kitchen & Cocktails across the street.
“You have to take advantage of what downtown Tucson is. Embrace it; don’t fight it,” Campbell said, noting that the key to succeeding in the space is to put equal emphasis and energy on downtown’s daytime and nighttime personalities.
Campbell would not disclose the names of the eight businesses that have expressed interest in the space, except to say they are all from Tucson.
“If I can get someone in and operating by the summer, that’s my goal,” he said.
Gio’s closing came a day after longtime northwest-side restaurant Bluefin Seafood Bistro announced it would close when its lease at Casas Adobes Plaza expires at the end of May. The last day will be May 24.
Owner James Murphy and his longtime business partner, Jeff Azersky, have operated the restaurant for 10 years. They also own the popular 22-year-old East Grant Road restaurant Kingfisher.
There are no plans to resurrect Bluefin in a different location, although Murphy said he has been working with a broker on possible restaurant locations for a new venture.
“If we were to find the right situation — we are a little more picky than we were 10 years ago — we would consider it,” he said.
Bluefin opened in February 2005, modeled after an East Coast fish house. The menu includes all manner of seafood, from clams and mussels to oysters and shrimp, as well as lobster, crab legs and sea bass.
Murphy said he was unsuccessful in renegotiating his lease with the new owners of the 60-year-old Casas Adobes, 7053 N. Oracle Road at West Ina Road.
California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) — the largest public pension fund in the United States — bought the plaza for $46 million in late February. Other tenants include the newly rebuilt Whole Foods Market and Sam Fox’s longtime Wildflower American Cuisine restaurant.
Plaza officials could not be reached Monday for comment.
