Owen’s Bagel & Deli closing South End shop, posts “stay tuned on our new location”

Owen’s last day in operation will be Sunday, March 24.

Owen’s post: “Dear Charlotte, Bigger and better things are coming our way. We love you guys so much and it’s sad to think that this will be our last week in our beloved ‘home’ on South Blvd. Our last day of operation will be Sunday, March 24th at 3pm. This is not a ‘goodbye’, just more of a ‘see you soon’… Stay tuned on our new location and we will update you ASAP…so come out and tag these walls, bump to our bangin’ music, and show us all the love for THE #1 BAGEL SHOP in the city. We love you so much Charlotte. See you this week.”

Background: The Pavilion, a 31,000 square foot shopping center that houses Owen’s, recently sold for $7.3 million to Abacus Capital and Big Cypress Capital.

New competition: A few months ago, Poppy’s Bagels opened a second location in South End just a few hundred yards down South Blvd from Owen’s.

Developer’s statement: “Unfortunately due to the condition of the existing improvements at the time of our acquisition, we have been forced to vacate the building in order to completely modernize the interior, bring the building up to code and restore the exteriors to standards befitting of the dynamism of the surrounding neighborhood. While we hate to see the existing tenancy vacate, their in-place contractual leases had expired and doing so was an unavoidable step in the execution of our redevelopment plans. We will have a number of exciting announcements to share in the coming months that we hope will help the neighborhood and other local stakeholders better appreciate the difficult steps we are taking in these early months of our ownership. The repositioned and rebranded project will re-open to the public later this year and we expect to deliver a product that should be worth the next few months’ wait.”

What’s next: The developers are investing a few million into The Pavilion and construction will begin soon begin with the goal of restoring the 1950’s era original building while making it prettier and more functional. No official word yet on signed leases, but the Agenda learned that they’re targeting a mix of hard and soft goods retailers and multiple food and beverage tenants – think coffee bar, fast casual restaurant, fitness center, nail bar, full service restaurant and taproom/brewery.