Need fresh evidence that Corktown is changing in ways that not everyone applauds? Crain's delivers it by looking at a business clinging to hang on.
Paul "PJ" Ryder says: "I still have not been able to pay myself anything in six years." (Facebook photo)
The owner of PJ's Lager House on Michigan Avenue "is struggling to make ends meet . . . [and] is considering selling his rock 'n' roll dream," writes freelancer Suzette Hackney, a past Free Press reporter.
Paul "PJ" Ryder, 59, is one face of reality within the Detroit restaurant and bar industry, even as new eateries and watering holes are popping up in some of the city's thriving neighborhoods such as Midtown and Corktown. And establishments just a stone's throw away from the Lager House, such as Slows Bar BQ and Sugar House Bar, are by all appearances doing a booming business. . . .
"I owe just about what I owed when I bought the place," said Ryder, who will celebrate his six-year anniversary on Oct. 23. . . . "I still have not been able to pay myself anything in six years. I'm living off the kindness of my wife, Donna."
His spouse, Donna Terek, has been a Detroit News photographer since 1987. (Hackney also worked at The News from 1996-98.)
Precarious finances at the Lager House, a neighborhood bar with live music nearly every night, contrast with business growth nearby, the Crain's article notes.
At least eight new Corktown restaurants have opened or are scheduled to open this year, including Motor City Wine, Ottava Via, Rubbed, St. CeCe's Pub and the Detroit Institute of Bagels.
But many of the new businesses are clustered up the street and are within walking — and parking — distance of each other, while PJ's is stranded on a block closer to downtown.
"Many of the new businesses are clustered up the street and are within walking — and parking — distance of each other," Crain's notes, "while PJ's ["A" above] is stranded on a block closer to downtown." (Google Maps photo)
The bar-restaurant is three blocks east of the old Tiger Stadium site, near the Lodge Freeway.
Hackney quotes Ryder's view of the activity along Michigan Avenue:
"I love that all these places have opened up, but I wonder how they are going to feel three years from now if their cash reserves have been depleted like our cash reserves have and they begin to wonder, 'How do we increase business?' "
She also speaks with Phil Cooley, co-owner of the eight-year-old Slows:
"I hope PJ sticks with it, and I hope that he becomes more profitable. . . . We all in this neighborhood have struggled in many ways. We spend money every year on security that you wouldn't normally have to. There are additional costs of doing business here."
-- Alan Stamm
