A Tulsa riverfront restaurant struggling with the closure of Riverside Drive gets a hand.
Blue Rose Café leases its property from River Parks, and investor Sig Brown said they’re seeing a lot fewer people and a lot fewer sales with the road closed.
"We're still measuring because it's early in the process, but there's a significant decrease," Brown said.
Brown said restaurateurs rely on high traffic counts.
"It's a key metric in deciding if you're going to build one or not, and when you impact traffic count, less cars, less people and less revenue. Simple as that," Brown said.
The River Parks board approved waiving the restaurant’s monthly rent as long as Riverside Drive is closed, retroactive to July. The board also approved reducing the percentage Blue Rose pays from a sliding scale to one percent of gross revenue.
"They've been a good partner, and we want them to succeed, so we're giving them a temporary relief in their contract terms," River Parks Executive Director Matt Meyer said.
To make up for it, the owners will pay an extra 1 percent on annual sales over $3 million after the road reopens for the same amount of time it was closed.
