The perfect storm that upended Japantown business owners’ dreams

Jordan Trigg concedes he and his wife Rina should have seen the financial tidal wave caused by an ambitious expansion plan building in the distance But by the time it started crashing over the couple who owned four businesses in San Jose s historic Japantown district it was too late to do anything but try to survive he reported We made specific bad decisions We could have made chosen better ones Jordan Trigg declared Friday two days after he closed Jtown Pizza Co a vibrant eatery that had been in business for six years on North Sixth Street On Friday night his company Dipsomania Inc stated that another of its Japantown businesses Spread Deli would shut down after the close of business Sunday Spread deli at Jackson St in San Jose's historic Japantown neighborhood is expected to close its doors after the end of business on Sept Sal Pizarro Bay Area News Group Trigg says he s doing everything he can to keep the doors open at the other two Jack s Bar which he s owned for nearly years and the legendary Bamboo karaoke lounge as well as save his heavily-leveraged family house in Japantown They re getting a essential boost thanks to a GoFundMe campaign set up without his knowledge Trigg stated by former San Jose City Councilmember Raul Peralez They ve known each other since Peralez was first campaigning in and their -year-old children go to the same school As of Friday afternoon the benefit event had brought in just over I suggested to Trigg that the outpouring of assistance was reminiscent of the end of It s a Wonderful Life when the residents of Bedford Falls show up to save George Bailey in his time of need He clearly was not calm with the comparison but he could see where I was coming from We knew people liked our business but we didn t realize how much Trigg disclosed All the news and the crazy amount of text messages and phone calls that Rina and I have received have been amazing And a lot of it is from people we don t even know who are saddened and upset The property at E Taylor St in San Jose's historic Japantown formerly the Cielito Lindo restaurant was purchased by Jordan and Rina Trigg's company in In the s the building was Onishi Hall a banquet room used for weddings dances and public events Sal Pizarro Bay Area News Group The Triggs dream-turned-nightmare goes back to when the couple took the ambitious threat of buying three parcels on East Taylor Street next door to Jack s Bar The family that owned Mexican restaurant Cielito Lindo was looking to get out of the business and Trigg saw an opportunity to buy the eatery and its valuable liquor license while also purchasing the land beneath it They intended to renovate the aging structure into a mixed-used building with a ground-floor breakfast spot called Jill s They received a city permit to tear out the interior of Cielito Lindo and then worked with an architect on drawings for the new space And that s where they hit a major snag The building was listed as a contributing structure on San Jose s Historic Tools Inventory which tied up its permits and put restrictions on prospective remodels There were also issues with an overlapping property line apparently okayed in the s but not allowed now They couldn t get construction loans and with the interior demolished and with no way to rebuild they couldn t even rent the space The idle buildings were costing them tens of thousands of dollars every month During this whole time we re still being optimistic Trigg explained Definitively a limited months ago all the finances and stuff started catching up We should have seen the writing on the wall Trigg says he wasn t notified of the historic status of E Taylor St during the real estate transaction and the standard transfer disclosure form for California doesn t specifically call that out We likely never would have bought the buildings if we had known in advance Trigg declared adding that he has since learned there are about such properties on the city s Historic Information Inventory in Japantown alone He believes that designation is a major factor in why several buildings in the district have remained vacant and expects they won t be developed for years Related Articles Viva CalleSJ will close nearly miles of streets this weekend as it wraps up its th year Alebrijes celebrations continue in downtown San Jose this weekend Campbell s Pruneyard Cinemas has cooked up a recipe for success Street mural unveiling kicks off SV Pride weekend in downtown San Jose Silicon Valley Pride celebrating years in downtown San Jose this weekend In the s and s the building at E Taylor St was Onishi Hall a banquet room used for weddings dances and other area gatherings It was later the Fog Horn restaurant a Mexican restaurant called And Chili and then Cielito Lindo A contributing structure is so designated because it adds to the historic nature of an area but that s a hard argument to make in the scenario of E Taylor which had been showing its age long before the Triggs bought it San Jose City Councilmember Anthony Tordillos whose district includes Japantown announced he sympathizes with the Triggs plight but believes the city did everything by the book While he says it s too soon to say if any city policies should change because of this situation he does think it s crucial for the city to make sure property owners are aware of their buildings historic status early in the pre-approval phase of renovations The other side of this I m looking at is that there are elements where we could have more flexibility when it comes to adaptive reuse of historic properties commented Tordillos who lives with his husband in a historic home and has had to deal with renovation red tape himself Japantown Tordillos explained is one of the the greater part vibrant corridors in the city thanks to the high-quality businesses and restaurants there for now Once you start to lose those businesses it starts to break up that urban fabric he stated And because the Trigg family has invested so much in Japantown over the years they ve become a staple of the locality so it makes it even more formidable Tamiko Rast whose family owns the popular Roy s Station coffee shop on the corner of Fifth and Jackson streets agreed that the business closings would have a deep impact on the neighborhood one of three remaining Japantowns in the United States The loss of Jtown Pizza Spread and any of the Dipsomania businesses leaves a gaping hole in our neighborhood she reported Our collective society is devastated not only for the businesses and staff but for the Trigg family Jordan Trigg reported the impact his situation has had on his employees weighs on him We re the largest independent employer in Japantown a lot of our employees walk or ride their bike to work and we let them down he commented But he hasn t given up on keeping specific of his business alive and still has faith in San Jose and Japantown We still have fight left in us and we re still trying to right the ship Trigg revealed I don t know how it s going to turn out but day by day we re trying to save our livelihood and -plus years of being in Japantown