Narsi reconsiders offer to move

Restaurant owner Narsi Samii withdrew a proposal Thursday to shut down his Coddingtown Mall eatery by the end of the year, instead agreeing to reconsider the mall’s latest offer to move him to a new location.

The owner of Narsi’s Hofbrau, which is fighting eviction from its longtime home to make way for new national tenants, withdrew remarks he made Wednesday to a judge in Petaluma suggesting he would rather close his restaurant than move.

After sleeping on it at the judge’s suggestion, Samii returned to Sonoma County Superior Court in Petaluma Thursday and agreed to postpone trial until Sept. 22.

“Narsi’s will remain open. He will continue to fight,” said Charlie Cochrane, an attorney for Samii.

Cochrane said his client was tired and not thinking clearly Wednesday when he told visiting Judge Dean Beaupre that he was willing to “walk away today” if the mall’s co-owner, Simon Property Group, would give him $1 and let him stay in his current location through Christmas.

The unexpected courtroom remarks followed hours of closed-door discussions with the judge trying to find common ground between Samii, who claims his lease is valid through 2015, and Simon, which argues the restaurant doesn’t generate enough revenue.

“He was just stressed out at the end of a difficult day of negotiations,” Cochrane said. “He feels they have continued to harass him.”

The mall wants to move Narsi’s Hofbrau to a smaller location on the opposite side of Coddingtown. The latest offer includes a lease through 2020, according to Todd Eads, vice president of leasing for the Indianapolis-based Simon Property, the largest mall owner in the nation.

The company, which owns the Santa Rosa Plaza downtown, took a 50 percent stake in Coddingtown Mall in 2005 with plans to breathe new life and national tenants into the 1960’s era shopping center.

A large Whole Foods Market is now under construction. Efforts are underway to find a new national restaurant chain, such as Cheesecake Factory, to help invigorate the mall, Eads said.

“We are in discussions with every restaurant chain that would do well in the mall, and there is a great deal of interest,” Eads said.

The sticking point is how much money Simon and its local partner, Codding Investments, are prepared to pay Narsi’s Hofbrau to move.

Improvements to the new space, which is about 40 percent smaller than the current restaurant, are estimated to cost between $250,000 and $500,000, Cochrane said.

The terms of the latest offer were not disclosed, but the judge on Wednesday called them “generous.”

“Let’s just say we’re on the high side and they’re on the low side,” Cochrane said.

Samii needs time to get construction bids and determine whether the latest offer is enough, Cochrane said. If he rejects the deal, then the judge made clear that he will immediately hold a trial Sept. 22 on the legality of the eviction, Cochrane said.