I saw a For Lease sign on the window but I guess I wanted to pretend that I didn’t see it. But it’s true, the Tempo Presto on Seventh Avenue is closing.

I for one LOVE the place so I called the restaurant right away to see what’s going on.

"Our winter over there was too slow. The rent is too high," Jose Diaz, one of the managers of the Fifth Avenue Tempo Presto, told me. "It’s due to the rent because it is just too, too high. Our other location on Fifth Avenue will stay open."

Diaz suggested that I call one of the owners, Michael Elliott, to get more information. Elliott was more than willing to share with me his disappointment about this turn of events. "Tempo Presto just wasn’t doing the volume on Seventh Avenue we needed to pay the rent," he told me.

"The volume isn’t there. It’s a Manhattan-size rent in Park Slope. Very expensive. And this is still just a neighborhood. As you know the commercial rents have gone through the roof," Elliott told me. "Pretty soon it will just be big retailers that can afford the spot over here."

Elliott isn’t exactly sure when Tempo Presto will close. It depends on when they find another business to take over the lease. Fortunately, the Fifth Avenue Tempo Presto and Tempo, the restaurant, are staying open. "The Seventh Avenue exposure definitely built exposure for the Tempo Presto concept. The neighborhood loves us."

And what is the Tempo Presto concept exactly? In my mind it’s delicious and fast breakfast, lunch, gelato, and take-out in a cool and colorful modern interior. "It’s a franchise concept. A good concept. But you have to get into the right market if you’re going to pay this kind of rent. If the rent was a third  what it is it would work. You can’t work it for this price point. We took a real hit." Elliott told me.

What about Fifth Avenue, I asked Elliott. Are the rents really cheaper over there?  "Fifth Avenue is just as expensive. But Fifth has a more vibrant scene. After dark, Seventh Avenue dries up," Elliott told me. "On Fifth you get a lot of younger people coming out in the evening."

On Seventh, lunch and after-school were profitable.  "But there are too many points of
the day when there is nobody in the place or just one or two people. You can have that if
you’re a Starbucks. But not for a company like this."  Elliott said. 

Elliot and his two partners hold the lease to the space on Seventh Avenue and they’re looking for the right tenant. He tells me that they have had interest from at least two national retailers. No decision has been made as yet. Says Elliott: "There needs to be a fit for the landlord, as well as us.

Opening the Seventh Avenue Tempo Presto was clearly a labor love for Elliott. "It is disappointing when you try to grow a concept. It is what it is. A learning experience. The idea didn’t fit this particular space." 

Elliott says that Park Slope is unlike any other neighborhood he’s worked in. "It’s not only seasonally sensitive but it’s also very weather sensitive. When it’s too cold, too rainy, too hot nobody goes out. This goes for the restaurants on Fifth. We all feel it when the weather is affected it puts a strain on the business.

Elliott admits that he like many retailers in Park Slope would like to see more support from the neighborhood. He hopes the local Buy in Brooklyn initiative proves to be a success.