Moka to open fourth Rochester coffee shop
Moka is expanding its footprint in Rochester.
The La Crosse-based coffee shop franchise has plans to take on space in a new commercial development along West Circle Drive.
The project is being spearheaded by First Alliance Credit Union, which is adding a fourth branch on site. The building, 2483 Commerce Drive Northwest, also has space for three other tenants, one of which will be a bistro/sandwich shop (details to be revealed at a future time).
Mark Hettinger, chief operating officer for First Alliance, said the 8,000 square-foot building will feature a modern, open-space concept, with a common area and “tech bar” located in the center. All of the businesses will have open storefronts connected to the common space, he said.
Hettinger declined to give an exact timetable, noting that progress will depend on a number of factors such as city permitting, but indicated the project should be ready to go in the coming months.
The northwest coffee shop will be Moka’s fourth in Rochester. It already has two drive-thrus — one on 12th Street Southeast and another on North Broadway — along with a café-style location on Peace Plaza.
Fuji closed for ‘restructuring’
More than a month after posting a note stating it has “temporarily closed for internal restructuring,” Fuji restaurant remains shuttered.
It is unclear how long the restaurant will remain closed — or whether it will re-open at all. Last week, the leasing agent for the building, North Rock Real Estate, put a for-lease sign outside of the restaurant.
We reached out to building co-owner AJ Hawkins, also an agent at North Rock, but he did not respond to questions regarding the closure.
The restaurant, owned by Yong Hao Liu, opened last April in the historic Olmsted County Bank and Trust Building, 7 Second Street Southwest.
With Fuji closed, Liu continues to operate his two Ichi Tokyo restaurants.
Plans emerge for Toys ‘R’ Us site
As big-box stores continue to falter in the age of Amazon and other forms of online shopping, a big question for a lot of cities will be what to do with of all the empty real estate left behind by the brick-and-mortar retailers.
Here in Rochester, though, the answer — at least in the interim — may be a bit less complicated for some property owners: use it for parking.
Already, Mayo has pursued controversial plans for contract parking at the former Kmart site. And this week we learned the new owner of the former Toys ‘R’ Us site wants to use the land, in part, for 236 private contract spaces.
News of the future use was first reported by Jeff Kiger of the P-B.
The new owner, Dan Penz, who purchased the property last fall for $3.9 million, also plans to use the building itself for warehouse space.
According to documents filed this week with the city, “Both the warehouse and parking facility uses are intended as an intermediate use until such time that the area can be redeveloped.”
In other words, like with the Kmart site, there are still long-term ambitions to transform the property into something other than parking and storage space. When those plans come to fruition, though, is still anyone’s guess.
Shopko north has a new owner
Meantime on the far north side of Rochester — something other than parking is in store for the former Skopko site.
KTTC is reporting that Haley Comfort Systems purchased the property with the intentions of moving its entire operation under one roof.
According to the story, the company plans to split the building into three sections. Haley will use the middle part of the building, while a yet-to-be-named restaurant will lease the western-most section. The remaining 35,000 square feet of space is still available for leasing, says KTTC.
The transaction has not yet been entered into the county’s property record database. It was last sold in 2018 to a real estate investment firm for $11 million. The market value of the property is less than half that.
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
