Penobscot Getting Two New Stores

Table tennis club, Greek restaurant among new tenants at Penobscot Building

The Penobscot Building's new owners have signed four new tenants, including the return of a former law firm tenant and a new Greek restaurant.

The tenants recently inked leases with owners Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc. in the 1.25 million-square-foot building in downtown Detroit.

• Southfield-based Pendeli Inc. leased 4,000 square feet on the first floor of the building to open a second location for its Athens Souvlaki Greek restaurant. Athens will be located at the Fort Street entrance of the building, said Steve Apostolopoulos, managing director of Triple Properties. The restaurant is to open this month.
• CDM Smith of Michigan LLC leased more than 5,000 square feet of space on the 37th floor. The subsidiary of Cambridge, Mass.-based CDM Smith Inc. consolidated its offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit into the Penobscot. The engineering, construction and consulting firm moved into the space at the end of February and its lease extends until April 2019.
• Detroit-based table tennis social club Drive Detroit LLC leased 4,000 square feet of ground floor space. The space, opening this month, will offer table tennis rentals and a bar that will serve appetizers. The group is also moving its headquarters into the building from a space on Woodward Avenue.
• Law firm Simon, Stella and Zingas PC returned to the Penobscot Building last month by leasing more than 5,000 square feet on the 34th floor. The Penobscot was the firm's original home more than 30 years ago, before it moved out in the early 2000s.

The Penobscot is 45 percent occupied with more than 1,000 tenants, Apostolopoulos said. The leasing agent is Fred Klugman, president of Detroit-based Klugman Commercial Properties LLC.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...s-at-penobscot

Triple Properties acquired the Penobscot Building in April 2012 for $5 million in cash. It also has retail, office and entertainment developments in Toronto, Chicago and New York.

No more Drive on Woodward :p

The Penobscot has the potential to be a great building, but it's a dump right now. Needs a full overhaul. There are much better options downtown with much better ownership.

I thought back in the late nineties or early 2000s, the Penobscot was renovated? By capstone something or other [[the owners at the time). It's a shame occupancy of this magnificent building is only 45%, seems just a few years ago it was much higher, somewhere in the 70s or even 80s? Hopefully downtown's increasing desirability will bring this tower back to life.

A lunch place opened up next to Wesley Berry not too long ago.

Did Mr. A ever build that parking garage he so desperately needed to attract tenants?

Maybe more businesses will take up space in the Penobscott. I would love to see more retail in the lower level

What is the food in Athens Souvlaki like?[[this being the second location)

I'm guessing greek, lol

Is there really a market to support a 4000sqft building devoted to table tennis?

4,000 sq ft is actually to small for a table tennis club. The Spin clubs in New York, Milwaukee and Toronto that Susan Sarandon is backing are 12,000 sq ft or more.

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Originally Posted by Downriviera

4,000 sq ft is actually to small for a table tennis club. The Spin clubs in New York, Milwaukee and Toronto that Susan Sarandon is backing are 12,000 sq ft or more.

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It isn't necessarily too small--it depends on how many members the club has. 4000 sq ft should let you have 10 tables without crowding, unless the space is ill-shaped. I don't play anymore, but I used to go to a club regularly that had several fewer tables than that, and internationally ranked players [[not me!) so it is doable. The problem with all such clubs is paying the rent, but making it bigger doesn't help unless you have a lot of members.

The original Athens Souvlaki is in Southfield in a strip mall kitty corner from
the Greyhound Bus Station at the southwest corner of Lahser and 11 Mile.
It has been there for years and years. Within the past year I have eaten
a take-out gyros from there - it was excellent, if a bit drippy, and cost about
seven dollars, which is not an amount I want to spend on food every day.
[[I prefer to stay under five dollars total and feed the pets too for that.
It's perfect weather for food-service size boxes of Quaker Original Oatmeal...)

I used to eat at the Southfield location back in the 1980s and 1990s, and I very much enjoyed the lunches I had there many times. And I remembered paying approximately $5 for lunch there each time.

As to it being pricey... when you spend nearly $5 for a Whopper or a Big Mac... $7 seems about right nearly 20 years later... it's still a decent value for what the dollar buys in this day and age....

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Originally Posted by mwilbert

The problem with all such clubs is paying the rent, but making it bigger doesn't help unless you have a lot of members.

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Yeah, I should have phrased my question a bit better, but the above was really my point. It's expensive to rent 4000sqft of space and I have difficultly believing there are that many people around willing to pay for the privilege of playing table tennis. Also, unlike pool or darts table tennis is a physically active game and isn't exactly conducive to selling lots of drinks.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Yeah, I should have phrased my question a bit better, but the above was really my point. It's expensive to rent 4000sqft of space and I have difficultly believing there are that many people around willing to pay for the privilege of playing table tennis. Also, unlike pool or darts table tennis is a physically active game and isn't exactly conducive to selling lots of drinks.

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It depends what type of club you want. If its just table tennis then 4,000sq ft is ok for probably 8 tables. If you want to have food and drink like the Spin Clubs, then you need cocktail tables, couches, etc where people can hang around to watch and eat and drink while their friends play. This requires much more space. And if you want a bar, private room, locker rooms and pro shop like the Spin Clubs then again you need way more space than 4,000sq ft. As for drinking and playing table tennis, we do a fair share of drinking while playing at the Lager House on Monday nights. But you're right, it is physically active so we burn off those beer calories pretty fast.

I highly doubt that any locker room or shower space will be part of this rental space. The buildout and infrastructure costs of such an endeavor would be quite expensive.

Carpathia Club of Sterling Heights has a table tennis room of 1200 square ft. that fits 6 tables quite comfortably.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

I highly doubt that any locker room or shower space will be part of this rental space. The buildout and infrastructure costs of such an endeavor would be quite expensive.

Carpathia Club of Sterling Heights has a table tennis room of 1200 square ft. that fits 6 tables quite comfortably.

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You can fit six tables into 1200 feet easily, but you can't provide adequate space around them [[for serious players).

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Originally Posted by mwilbert

You can fit six tables into 1200 feet easily, but you can't provide adequate space around them [[for serious players).

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Well yes... for international competition the space for 1 table is [[translated from metric)... 46ft. long X 23 ft. wide X 16 1/2 ft. high.

But I doubt there are going to be any world competitions here... especially when the height measurement may not be possible... so there will be smaller confines per table likely.

A restaurant and a leisure activity in 2 different businesses? Great! One a week would be nice let alone 2 at a time, fantastic news.

Clearly, demoing that cute little old building at Michigan and Shelby opened up all the parking needed to make these rentals a reality [[or there was no need for more parking in the first place, whichever).

1953

What isn't noted in this thread is that the Greek restaurant is replacing Rio Wraps. Rio Wraps has already closed up shop - which is a shame because there really isn't any place downtown to get a good burrito. Hot Taco being a little too far of a walk from the Ren Cen.

Paging Chipotle to the service desk... Chiptole to the service desk...

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Originally Posted by belleislerunner

What isn't noted in this thread is that the Greek restaurant is replacing Rio Wraps. Rio Wraps has already closed up shop - which is a shame because there really isn't any place downtown to get a good burrito. Hot Taco being a little too far of a walk from the Ren Cen.

Paging Chipotle to the service desk... Chiptole to the service desk...

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Wait, I'm confused. Rio Wraps is/was in the Dime Building. Did that location close? Isn't this greek place going in the Penobscot?

You're right it is the Dime building [[Chrysler House), not the Penobscot. It closed about two weeks ago - it's an empty shell now. Anyone know what's going in Rio Wrap's place?

There is a popular Mexican food restaurant in the Penobscot Building right now on the Fort St. side.

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Originally Posted by SWMAP

There is a popular Mexican food restaurant in the Penobscot Building right now on the Fort St. side.

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Yes, Carnival. Are they open in the evening yet, or just breakfast and lunch? Sure would like to stop in for a burrito before or after a ballgame.

Rio Wraps was never a good place to get a burrito.