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Owners' son searches for bigger space, hopes deli-style eatery draws 'more mature crowd'
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Jun 05, 2008
Now that Joe and Mona Nemer have won $2.6 million from the University of Akron, their family bar and restaurant will be moving.
But Joe Nemer Jr., son of the owners, said he has yet to settle on a property to purchase.
Still, this much is clear to him — the new incarnation of Joe's Sun Bar & Grill will be vastly different than the one that has catered to college students for decades.
''I'm looking at a more mature crowd, maybe corporate workers,'' he said. ''Corned beef, pastrami, roast beef — a more delicatessen-style restaurant.''
A Summit County Probate Court jury awarded the Nemers about $2.1 million on Tuesday for two homes, a building that houses the Sun Bar and a tattoo parlor, and warehouse at East Exchange and Spicer streets.
The jury also set the purchase price of a parking lot with about 50 spaces at $1 million. The parking lot is jointly owned by the Nemers and Joe's cousin, Manny Nemer and his wife, Colette, so the two families will split that award.
The university sought to acquire both families' property in order to build an apartment-style residence hall next to a stadium that is already under construction. Price is the issue at trial, not the university's need for the land.
Joe and Mona Nemer's award was not what Mona Nemer told the jury she
wanted — ''three-something million,'' is the way she put it.
But the family still is pleased to be walking away with more than double the $1.1 million the university offered.
''We accept that figure and will move on and we think it's fair,'' Joe Nemer Jr. said.
Still, potential obstacles remain for the Copley Township couple and their 43-year-old son, to whom they are leaving the business.
Joe Nemer Jr. said the family has been given no timeline on when they must be out of the bar and restaurant, which with the tattoo parlor still is open.
The drumbeat of publicity about eminent domain already has cost them money, he said, as tenants in the Nemers' houses have moved, the aquarium business has relocated and the warehouse they'd rented out to others has been empty for more than a year.
The bar business also is down.
''At the moment, it's been hit by the competition hard,'' he said. ''Plus the economy's going down. You have to restructure the business to have more profit. You have to offer more.''
Nemer added it is not easy to find the right property — one they can buy, with about 7,500 square feet, about 2,000 more than the Sun Bar has.
In addition, the university has yet to indicate if it will appeal the jury's ruling.
But Ted Curtis, UA vice president for capital planning and facilities management, said the university already had used up its $5 million budget to acquire, level and abate property for the stadium and residence hall projects before the Tuesday verdict.
At the same time, the university has one more eminent domain trial to face — that of Colette and Manny Nemer, who own Manny's Pub and Aroma Coffee and Tea next to the Sun Bar. Their trial starts June 16.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Now that Joe and Mona Nemer have won $2.6 million from the University of Akron, their family bar and restaurant will be moving.
Get the full article here.
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